Brand New Day
by sw1m4l1fe
Summary: Post BD. Nessie attends Forks High for 12th grade where she meets Roman...The Cullens stay 'til she finishes & then they all, Jake included, go to Dartmouth. Things are well until something back in Forks sends them all into a frantic frenzy. R&R! NPOV/BPO
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: All of these characters belong to Stephenie Meyer. I'll introduce a couple of my own in the next few chapters ;)  
"Brand New Day" is not my own creative title; it's a song by Forty Foot Echo &  
I must give credit where credit is due -- awesome song, btw. Check it out.**

**A few things:  
Future chapters will have music posted that i've listened to while writing at the beginning...some ppl like to see that.  
This is also my first fanfic, so please be nice. The beginning may be kind of rough, but it _does_ get better!  
Lastly, this is _by far_ the shortest chapter. I hope you all enjoy it (: **

**R&R is greatly appreciated!  
~beta'd by superdupersk8r61 aka the best beta ever.**

**I'm seriously going to shutup now and let you guys read =)**

**Nessie's POV**

It's been a little over two years since that horrible winter day in the meadow. I still have nightmares about the Volturi from time to time, but I try really hard to keep them out of my head. I know that the images that circulate in my mind make my father very upset. He did not like that day one bit more than I did. If my family and friends had failed that day, I would be an orphan right now...or maybe even dead. It hurts me to think about not having my parents near me, and Jake for that matter too.

Jake has been a godsend since that day**,** both to me and my parents. Aside from him finally finishing his sophomore and junior years in high school, he's been glued to my side. He goes hunting with me, helps me with my homeschooling, and I can talk to him about anything. We usually have to do the talking part while we're out hunting or on a walk because my mom and dad have super hearing. Oh the joys of being a vampire's daughter.

"Nessie?" I heard my father call my name from downstairs. I'd inherited the ability to hear extremely well which I was thankful for. It made living in this huge house much easier.

"Yeah**,** Dad?" At least I didn't have to strain my voice to know he'd heard my answer.

"Could you come down here for a minute? Your mother and I have something we'd like to discuss with you."

"Sure," I replied, barely escalating my voice. "Be right down."

I'm sure any other teenager would be dreading the conversation that was soon to follow, but I wasn't. For starters, I only _looked_ like a teenager. In human years I was about six, but I looked about 16 or 17. And secondly, my parents are not upset easily- and if they are upset, their faces conceal their emotions quite effectively.

I scurried down the stairs and hooked a right around the railing to see my parents sitting calmly in the living room. They were so perfect sitting there together. I could only hope to find someone like that for myself one day.

"Whatsup?" I asked them.

It was my mother who spoke now. "Well Nessie, we wanted to talk to you about school. We know that you don't like being cooped up here all day when there is a world to experience. So your father and I have made a decision that we hope you will like."

"Go on," I said eager to hear what they had in store for me. They were always right when they thought I'd like something.

"Well," my father said. "It appears as if you are not growing nearly as fast as you have been for the past few years, and we think that maybe you'd like to go to school with Jacob. Rather, you and Jacob go to the high school here in Forks for your senior year together. What do you think?"

I was ecstatic! I had dreamed of going to public school since I had begun learning. Don't get me wrong- Emmett, Rose, Jasper, Alice, Esme, Carlisle and my parents were all fine tutors, but I'd always wondered what it would be like to learn from someone that wasn't over 100 years old.

Trying to sound nonchalant about it, I said "I guess that could work out, but we should get Jake here to ask him too." I was already pretty confident that Jacob would not mind in the least bit to attend school with me, but it was only polite to make sure.

My parents knew I was excited about this. They saw right through my attempt to be casual about it. I guess barely being able to sit still gave me away. Oh well. They were right, again, as always. I didn't mind.

"Speak of the devil," my father said. I could only guess this meant Jake was wondering in the house and that my father could hear his thoughts.

I stood up extremely fast and rushed over to his side. I gently placed my hand against his cheek and showed him the conversation I just had with my parents. He, also, seemed too excited to contain himself.

"Bella, Edward, is this serious? You're going to let Nessie and me go to school together?"

My parents simply nodded their heads with smiles drawn from ear to ear. They barely had time to react. Before I knew it, Jake had me under his arm and was running across the living room to hug my parents. I was surprised at how accustomed he'd gotten to the vampire stink that we all 'reeked' of. He hardly ever mentioned it anymore.

"So I guess that's a yes then?" My mother knew us both so well. I hugged them both tightly and pressed a hand to each of their faces to express them the gratitude I felt.

Just to think, I- Renesmee Carlie Cullen, would be attending public school in just two short weeks! So much to do! Alice came flitting down the stairs and smiled brightly at me. She knew that school meant new clothes. For once, I would be overly thrilled to go shopping with her.

**Please, let me know what you think! I accept _all_ reviews, though I'd appreciate it if they weren't horribly mean.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note:  
All of these characters belong to Stephenie Meyer (except Carolyn).  
****  
Music: Blue October**

Thanks so much for the reviews! I didn't think they would be as exhilarating as they are!  
**This is a long chapter & a lot of thought went into it. Good stuff is coming soon! I promise (:  
R&R is greatly appreciated!  
~beta'd by superdupersk8r61 aka the best beta ever.**

--Just to think, I- Renesmee Carlie Cullen, would be attending public school in just two short weeks! So much to do! Alice came flitting down the stairs and smiled brightly at me. She knew that school meant new clothes. For once, I would be overly thrilled to go shopping with her.--

**Nessie's POV**

I managed to drag myself out of bed slightly before the ungodly hour Alice demanded we leave to shop in Seattle. I pulled on a pair of jeans and a random t-shirt not bothering to see if they matched or not. I'm sure she would be absolutely thrilled with my 'enthusiasm', but then again, I'm sure she could see that I'd perk up later in the day.

I decided that I would hunt for breakfast before leaving with Alice. I was always in control of myself, but the human's scent is much easier to ignore when I've got a full stomach.

"Hey Jake," I called hoping he had heard me.

"Yeah, Ness?" he replied as he smoothly walked in to my room.

"I'm going to hunt before I leave with Alice. Care to join me?"

"Sure!" he eagerly answered.

"Great, let me tell Alice and I'll meet you out by the river."

After telling Alice, I went outside to see that Jake had already phased. I didn't stop to talk to him before jumping over the river. He managed to find enough rocks to hop across it, though he didn't do it very gracefully. I accidentally let out a little giggle which he no doubt heard.

"Aww, Jake. C'mon. You looked cute," I said, instantly regretting calling him cute. Even I knew that guys didn't like being called 'cute'. Oh well. He would manage.

We both stalked a couple of elk down, thoroughly draining our kill. I'd gotten much better at hunting. I hardly ever got myself dirty, and I _always_ made sure that I took down the biggest of our prey. Jake smiled his wolfy smile and choked out a laugh as he watched me glow with satisfaction. He walked a bit away from me, so I figured he was going to phase back. I was right.

Jacob had just pulled over a pair of tattered, cut off jeans before returning to my side. Had he always been this beautiful? My eyes ran across his perfectly sculpted body, and my cheeks flushed a little bit.

"What's wrong, Nessie?" he asked me.

"Oh, um. Nothing. I, well. Yeah, I have no idea," I managed to squeak out.

"Okay…So, can we talk?" he asked me.

"'Course Jake. We can always talk! What's going on?" I was kind of curious because he never really asked me if it was okay if we talked.

"Well, it's about this whole high school thing, Nessie. I…I just wanted to know how you really felt about it. With me going there _with_ you," he mumbled.

I was taken aback. Had he not seen my reaction yesterday? It almost felt like he was holding something back…like he really wanted to ask me something but he was afraid of what I would say.

"Jake, I'm beyond excited. I have always wanted to go to public school, and now I get to do that, _and_ at the same time I get to hang out with my best friend- you!" Every single word was truthful, and I hoped he could see that. Just to reassure him, I pressed my hand against his burning face and showed him my reaction from the night before.

"Okay. As long as you're happy, Ness, that's all I care about," he smiled at me.

"I am. We should probably get back to the house though. I'm sure Alice is going crazy not being able to see when I'll return. And I suppose I'm kind of excited about going school shopping with her." I watched him go behind a bush before turning away as I heard him phase back.

We ran back to the house and both jumped across the river this time. I darted inside to see Alice waiting impatiently with keys in her hand while Jake stayed outside to phase back. My parents stood close to her watching her foot tap way too fast to be normal.

"Sorry Aunt Alice," I said just as Jake came inside.

"It's okay Nessie, we're only fifteen minutes behind schedule. Easily fixed with my driving," she exclaimed.

I inhaled sharply. Even though I was a half vampire, I didn't have the strongest stomach when it came to fast cars going around insanely sharp curves. To make up for the delay I'd caused her, I'm sure Alice would be taking her Porsche instead of the more comfortable (to me at least) Volvo. I repeatedly kept cursing myself in my head. Dad laughed behind me.

"Well I guess we had better be on our way, Alice. I'd hate to delay our excursion any longer than I already have."

She squealed in excitement as she took my arm and dragged me outside to her Porsche. I wasn't entirely sure that we'd have enough trunk space for all of the clothes she had in store for me. Well, I guess there's only one way to find out…

I barely had enough room to duck my head in between my knees as she weaved around the curves speeding toward Seattle. "Nessie, do I need to pull over? You look kind of green, and no offense or anything, but I don't want to ruin the leather in this car."

"No," I responded, "but if you could slow down a wee bit, that would surely ease the green in my face. I'm sure you've made up the fifteen minutes, and then some." To my satisfaction, I felt the car slow and glanced very quickly at the speedometer. It now read 90 instead of 110. Being on the interstate only helped my situation.

"I'm sorry, Ness," Alice said. "It's just that no one really ever enjoys shopping with me, though I can't imagine why. And you seemed so excited to come with me today. I guess I just got a little out of hand with the driving. But you're right- we did make up a lot of time! We're only ten minutes out from Seattle."

"Thank God," I said. "I would really like to splash some cool water on my face before we start shopping."

"You bet! I'll just start mapping out our plan of attack on these poor and helpless stores," she replied exuberantly.

After parking, I trudged to the nearest ladies room and hovered over the sink for a minute before splashing some cool water over my face. It did wonders. I immediately felt better and was oddly enough more than ready to get this show on the road.

We hit store after store after store. I'm sure we spent well over $700 on my clothes alone. Alice probably spent twice that amount for herself and Jasper. This got me to thinking about my mother. Well, mostly about how many times Alice had gone shopping for my mother. While Alice was busy trying on an outfit, I let my thoughts drift back to my parents for a few minutes…

**Bella's POV**

"Okay Edward, Nessie's gone now. It's time to get a few things done!"

"And what might these _things_ be, love?" he replied, trying to twist my words.

"Not that, dear," I said. "But we need to go see J. Jenks, and with Nessie gone, we might as well spend our time wisely and go now. Wouldn't you agree?"

"I suppose so. I'll just go and grab the keys to the Ferrari and let Carlisle know." Before I had a word out of my mouth, he was already back by my side with keys in hand. Edward slid into the driver's seat of my car and turned the key, roaring the engine to life while I sulked over to the passenger seat of _my_ car. Sometimes I thought he bought me that car for himself, but who could blame him. He knew I didn't like driving it anyway.

Before I thought possible, we were pulling into the law office of J. Jenks. "Oh shoot," I said. "I forgot to call and make an appointment. I only need to speak with him for maybe five minutes. I hope he can spare the time." After quickly reevaluating in my head, I was sure he would spare the time. He wouldn't chance losing me, as opposed to Jasper, as the Cullen family representative.

Edward and I walked hand in hand to the secretary. She gawked up at us, very similar to the last time I met her. "Hi," I smiled at her. "We were hoping to speak privately with Mr. Jenks for a few minutes. I don't have an appointment, but if you could tell him that Bella Cullen is here with her husband to speak with him, I'm sure he'd be more than willing." Wow, I thought to myself. That rolled off of my tongue a whole lot easier than it should have. I guess Edward and being a vampire were rubbing off on me after all.

"Um, sure," the secretary peeped out. "Let me just call back to his office." She picked up the phone hitting some number. I could hear the ringing in the receiver of the phone before Mr. Jenks picked up.

"Yes, Carolyn?" he said.

"Oh, Mr. Jenks. Bella Cullen and her husband…," she peered at Edward begging for a name to put to his angelic pale face.

"Edward," he quickly responded.

"…her husband Edward are here. They'd like to speak with you for a minute, but I can reschedule them an appointment if you'd prefer."

"That will hardly be necessary, Carolyn," Jenks replied. I could hear the anxiety in his voice. "Please, don't keep them waiting a second longer. Bring them right back to my _private_ office." Edward and I chanced a quick look at each other. We'd both heard the strain he put on the word 'private'.

Carolyn quickly led us around the building and stopped abruptly at an unmarked door. She knocked quietly three times before daring to turn the door knob.

Mr. Jenks stood to greet me and my husband. "Ah, Bella. It has been too long. And who is this you've brought with you? Mr. Edward, is it?"

"Yes, Mr. Jenks. This is my Edward." I said. "And Edward, this is Mr. Jenks." I politely introduced them both, even though I was sure Jenks already knew a lot about Edward by all of the papers he'd falsified for my family in the past twenty years.

"And what brings you both here today?" he questioned.

Much to my surprise, Edward spoke now. Extending his hand, he said "Mr. Jenks, it's a pleasure to meet you after all of these years." They shook each other's hands, and I'm sure Edward was surprised that Jenks didn't flinch away from his icy cold touch.

"The pleasure is all mine, Mr. Edward," he replied.

"Please, Edward will do. We were hoping that you could help us with a couple of documents, if you would be so kind."

"Of course. And what will you be needing?"

I took over the conversation now. "We are in need of some documents to prove a home schooled education up through eleventh grade. And we would also like a driver's license."

I turned my attention to Edward now, "Do you think Forks will need a copy of her birth certificate?"

"I don't think that will be necessary, but it wouldn't hurt for future occasions. I know that Dartmouth will need it," he whispered to me.

"Yes, very true. So, we'll need the proof of home schooling documents, a driver's license and a birth certificate" I said returning my attention to Mr. Jenks. I quickly added a "Please" remembering Jasper's rudeness toward this gentleman. I did not want to leave the same impression on him.

"I'll need some information for the driver's license and birth certificate," he said to us.

"Sure," I responded. I guessed at the information he would need and started rambling off the information before I realized his stunned, frantic expression. He didn't even have a pen in hand before I finished everything. I motioned for the pen and paper he'd managed to scramble up and quickly wrote down the information…  
Renesmee Carlie Cullen. Birthday: October 31st, 1992. SSN: 123-45-6666. Weight: 110 lbs. I scrawled out her 'signature' before returning the paper and pen to him.

Before he could thank me or ask for a photograph, Edward was already pulling his wallet out. He flipped it open exposing an array of photographs of Nessie. Some of them were of her with us, some with Jake, and a few by herself. How father-like of him. He pulled out one of my favorites and reluctantly handed it to Mr. Jenks. "I'll be wanting that back with the finished documents, please."

"Yes, yes. Of course Mr. Edward," he spat out rather quickly not wanting to upset my husband. He glanced down at the photograph and without a doubt recognized the child from our previous exchange. His face changed abruptly to one of utter confusion and disbelief. Edward chuckled next to me. He recomposed himself within a couple of minutes. "And when will you need these documents by Mrs. Bella?"

"Oh, well. She starts school in two weeks. We could meet you again in a week and a half, if that works for you."

"Sure. We can meet at the same place as last time, if you'd like?" I'm sure he was hoping that he would have the chance to 'wine and dine' me, but I doubt Edward would let that happen. Especially now since he'd heard Jenks's thoughts.

"_We_ will meet you there at 8 p.m. Thanks again for your time Mr. Jenks," I smiled sweetly at him before handing him a white envelope with a hefty amount of cash inside. "I'll be sure to bring you another one of those next time," I said gesturing to the envelope he held in his clammy hands.

Edward and I swiftly walked out of his _private_ office towards the Ferrari. I walked a bit more briskly than necessary because _I _wanted to drive _my_ car home. He didn't seem to have a problem with that. We pulled out of the parking lot and began the drive home. I still didn't drive as fast as the rest of the Cullens, but Edward was still incredibly patient with me. He held my hand as we made our way back to Forks.

**Nessie's POV**

Alice had to wave her hands in front of my face and snap her fingers at me several time to get me to come back to reality. "Nessie, Ness…C'mon Nessie. I really need your opinion here!" She said impatiently.

I came to and looked at her with what I'm sure was a priceless dazed expression. "Oh. Sorry Alice." I glanced quickly at the two green skirts she held up to herself. "You should go with the olive green. It brings out the gold in your eyes better." Geez, I thought to myself. Sometimes being a girl is so difficult, having to decide between to impeccably close colors. Olive green versus what I deemed to be pea green though the tag deemed it some weird French word much too fancy for my liking.

"Hey Alice…do you think we could go home after this store? I'm pretty exhausted and I think I have enough new clothes for two years." I was practically begging.

"Oh, sure thing, Nessie. Sorry, I forget sometimes that you're still half human. Let me just pay for these things really fast and we'll be on our way." She flitted over to the checkout counter while I gathered up all of the bags that we had accumulated throughout the day.

We walked outside to her car and somehow, all of the bags fit into the compact trunk. I sank into the Porsche and fell asleep almost immediately.

When I woke up the next morning in my bed at the cottage, I found Jake sitting at the edge of my bed staring at me with a dazzling smile across his face.

**You know you want to hit that little review button to let me know what you think!! (=**


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note:  
All of these characters belong to Stephenie Meyer.  
Music: Twilight soundtrack & some Yellowcard**

**R&R is greatly appreciated!  
~beta'd by superdupersk8r61 aka the best beta ever.**

--When I woke up the next morning in my bed at the cottage, I found Jake sitting at the edge of my bed staring at me with a dazzling smile across his face.--

**Nessie's POV**

"Mornin' Jake," I yawned out.

"Good morning, beautiful," he said to me.

That word kind of caught me off guard…beautiful…me? Maybe I hadn't woken up yet. I was about eighty percent sure I was still dreaming when I asked him to pinch me. _That_ was a mistake. It definitely hurt.

"Hey Ness?" he asked me. "Why did you just ask me to pinch you?"

I propped myself up on my elbows to look at him. "Er. It's nothing, Jake. What're you here so early for?"

"I'm not here early. You're just waking up earlier than normal…that's all."

What in the world was going on here? So many questions were racing through my head. How did he know what time I _usually_ woke up? How often did he sit at the end of my bed smiling at me while I slept? How long had he been doing it? Was I utterly repulsed, or did I like it? Oh boy. I was in for a headache. I let my elbows fall out from under me and moved my hands up to cradle my head.

Jake seemed very cautious now as he spoke, "Nessie?"

"I'm fine Jake. Really. I just need to take a shower and let the heat work on me."

"Sure sure," he said. "Do you think we could go for a walk when you're done? I have something that I want to talk to you about alone."

That made two times in two days where he had asked me for permission on something seemingly unimportant. Something was up here, and I wanted to figure out what it was. "Alright, Jake. I'll come and find you when I'm ready."

Without another word, he got up from my bed and meandered outside and headed back towards the house. As soon as he was out of sight, I hurriedly swung my legs over the bedside and rushed to find my parents.

I found them nestled in each other's arms in front of the burning fire that none of us really needed. "Hey Mom, Dad…can I talk to you for a minute?"

My mom looked at my dad for a brief second before he gave her a reassuring nod. "Sure hun, what's on your mind?"

"Actually, it's about Jake. He's been, well, acting sort of strange these past couple of days. Asking me if we could talk and then talking about insignificant things he already knew, sitting at the end of my bed like a creeper, calling me beautiful…It's kind of freaking me out and I was curious if you guys had any idea what's going on? Specifically you, Dad. Seeing as you can read his thoughts and all…I was hoping you could give me a bit of insight."

"I wish I could Nessie, but as it turns out, it's not my place to say anything," my father said to me looking saddened that he couldn't help me more.

"Oh. Mom?" I just wanted some kind of a clue as to what was happening to my best friend. Was that _so_ much to ask?

"I'm afraid that I, too, am stuck between a rock and a hard place. The best thing I can tell you is that what's happening now is part of who he is. Just please do your father and I a favor and listen to him. Jake is a part of this family, Nessie, no matter what. He's been waiting for the right time to talk to you, and for some reason or another…he has chosen today as the day."

"Um, okay Mom. Thanks for all of that 'help'." I literally made the quotation marks motion with my hands in the air to emphasize my lack of thanks. That was mumbo jumbo they just spat at me. What in the world was I supposed to make of that?

I stalked off to take a shower extremely unhappy with my parents for their lack of information. Maybe the heat of the shower would bring some answers to me.

After a twenty minute scolding hot shower, I gave up on answers. I figured if I hadn't been enlightened by then, I more than likely wouldn't. I got out of the shower, dried myself off and got dressed.

I walked outside fully intending to walk to the house when I saw Jake waiting for me on a rotten stump. I didn't really know what to do, so I just stood there awkwardly waiting for him to do something. He stood up and walked over to me. He placed his hand on the small of my back and turned us both around so that we were now heading deeper into the forest.

We'd been walking for about fifteen minutes in complete silence going nowhere in particular. It was eating me alive. I tried very hard to sound casual, but I'm sure that was a bust. "So, what's going on, Jake?" It all came out too fast and sounded extremely nervous. I pondered to myself why I couldn't keep my emotions hidden from him. It was so easy to do with the rest of my family.

"Hold on, Ness. We're almost there," he said as he looked over to me with a look on his face that seemed so sad. I didn't understand.

"We're almost where? Jake…we're in the middle of the forest. There isn't anything around for miles aside from trees and animals." I was walking slightly behind him now trying to hide my curious face from his view.

He abruptly stopped in front of me, and I came very close to running into him. "We're here," he whispered.

I looked around doing a full 360 and all I saw were trees and a squirrel running up one of those trees. "We're where? This looks just like ten yards back."

Jake sank to his knees, and we were almost face to face for once. I looked deep into his eyes trying to figure out what he was trying to tell me. All I could see in that moment was sadness.

"This is where I almost lost you, Nessie."

"Jacob Black, if you don't explain what in the world you're trying to tell me, I swear I will go AWOL on your ass."

"When you were a little girl, Renesmee…You, your mother and I came out here on a hunt. You and I went over that way about fifty yards and your mother remained here so that you would actually hunt with me. That's when she caught the gleam of Irina off in the distance. Upon first glance, you were a beautiful little girl. Pale, fast and skilled in many ways. To any onlooker that did not know your story, you looked like an immortal child," he barely managed to choke out before hanging his head in his hands like he was going to cry. "The Volturi have a 'no tolerance' policy on the immortal children because of what happened over a century ago. It was here that I realized that I could lose you, Nessie. And losing you, would have killed me."

I felt so horrible for acting like…like such a child. Threatening him when this was the thing that had been bothering him for the past couple of days.

"Jake. I…I don't know what to say. I'm so sorry I reacted horribly earlier. Will you forgive me? Please?" I unwillingly began to cry.

As Jake brushed a tear off of my cheek, he said, "I'm not quite finished yet, Ness. There's more to the story, and I'm not sure how you'll react. Don't apologize to me until you're sure you want to."

"I'm su--" was all I managed to croak out before he cut me off.

"Please let me finish, sweetie. I know that I must have weirded you out this morning when you woke up to me on your bed. And calling you beautiful and sweetie just now may not have been the smartest moves on my part. Nessie…there is something about my kind that no one has told you about. But with you and me going to school together soon, I think you need to know. You see, we do this thing called imprinting."

"Imprinting?"

"Yeah. Please don't run away after I say this, because for you and me, it wasn't like this at the beginning. But it would be compared best to love at first sight."

"L…l...love at first sight?" I blubbered out. Why was that first word so hard to say for me? He was waiting for me to run, but I stayed stationary. I couldn't tell if it was because I wanted to stay or if my body was too shocked to do anything else but remain still.

"Okay," he said. "This is good. You haven't run away yet. I don't know if your mother ever told you, but I was drawn to her while she was pregnant with you." He gave me a little sucker punch in the arm. "And it was because of you. When I first laid eyes on you, Nessie, I knew that you were my soul mate. But it's not like I ever expected us to fall in love when you were a toddler. That's just creepy. Whatever you needed while you were growing up, that's what I was. A play toy, a competitor, a friend. I've been there for you every step of the way. Even now- whatever you need me to be…well that is what I'll be."

"So why are you laying this on me now?" I asked him.

"Well, with school coming up, I know that you're going to make a lot of new friends. I just wanted you to know that I'll always be here for you, Ness. I only have eyes for you, hun. No one else comes close to your personality. When I look at you, I see a combination of the most heavenly things. An angel, roses, pure joy on a child's face. You're my everything, and you always will be even if you never have the same feelings for me."

"Wow Jake. That's a lot to lay on a person in one sitting." I realized now that I was sitting, and I had no idea how exactly I'd come to be in this position.

He scooted over to me and gently placed his arm around my shoulders to comfort me. It was all hitting home now. Jake had _always_ been there. I couldn't recall a day when we were ever apart all day. And he had been everything I needed up until this day. But now, I wasn't sure. I just wanted Jake to be a friend. A really good friend. It didn't seem very fair of me to ask him to be friends when he wanted more, but there was no way I was ready to be in a relationship with him, or anyone else for that matter.

"Jacob, I love you so much. More than you could ever know. I just don't love you like that…not yet at least. I don't want to hurt you, but I really only want friendship right now. I want to live my life as a normal teenager for a little while before I commit to anything. Is that okay?

"Of course it is, Nessie." He took his hand in mine and looked deep into my eyes. "I never want you to feel pressured, Renesmee. I understand your feelings now. I've been through this before…with your mother actually. I'll be here if you change your mind."

"Okay, Jake. Thanks for understanding. It means a lot to me, and you'll be the first person to know if I've changed my mind. I promise," I told him before standing up. "I think we should go back to the house. You up for a race back followed by a card game?" I'd hoped that this would lighten the mood.

"Sure sure, Nessie," he answered. He stood up, now towering over me once again. He walked a few yards away from me to phase so that it would be a fair race.

"Oh, and Jake. Don't hold back on me. I think you may have been doing that before so that I could win…to give me what I want. But I want you to run your legs off, got it Mr.?"

He coughed out a laugh. I could only guess this meant he would.

I still beat him, but not by as much of a margin as in the past. Poor Jake's ego…being beaten by a girl must suck. He smoothly phased back and pulled on his shorts before following me into the house. We laughed our way into the house, rambling to each other about our race before settling at the kitchen table with a deck of cards.

"No holding back on card games either!" I said to him before dealing.

It was nice to know that our friendship remained intact and absent of awkwardness. I think we both felt better after he got everything off of his chest. I heard my parents upstairs talking with Carlisle and Esme.

Jake and I had barely started our card game before my mother called for me. "Renesmee, can you come upstairs please?"

Alice danced over to Jake who was now disappointed because our card game would have to end. She told him that I won anyway, so he could get over his misery a little faster. He got up and walked over to watch television with Emmett and Rose while I began hauling myself up the stairs to see my parents and grandparents.

**Review? Please?  
Kthnx.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note:  
All of these characters belong to Stephenie Meyer.  
Music: buckcherry, gavin degraw & the offspring**

**Sorry that this is a bit of a short update...  
Idk how I feel about this chapter...give me some feedback & let me know what you think--please!**

**R&R is greatly appreciated!  
~beta'd by superdupersk8r61 aka the best beta ever.**

--Alice danced over to Jake who was now disappointed because our card game would have to end. She told him that I won anyway, so he could get over his misery a little faster. He got up and walked over to watch television with Emmett and Rose while I began hauling myself up the stairs to see my parents and grandparents.--

**Nessie's POV**

As I walked into Carlisle's study, I was greeted by four sets of eyes. My parents were seated comfortably on a couch that looked like it walked out of the fifties. Carlisle and Esme stood behind them with their hands on the couch. For being vampires, they certainly had their humanity nailed down to a science.

"Hi, guys. Whatsup?" I asked them nonchalantly.

"We just wanted to see how you were doing," Carlisle answered. "We know what Jacob planned on telling you today, and we weren't really sure how you were going to react. Judging by how you two were acting on your way in the house, I'd say things went well."

"Oh. Yeah, things went well. He bombarded me with a lot of stuff…about him imprinting on me when I was born...the day Irina saw me in the forest…his undying love for me. But I'm okay with that. It's nice to know that I'll always have someone there for me," I said.

My father now spoke. He looked kind of weird though, like what he was going to say would be a bit difficult for him. "Do you have any…er…questions, Nessie? About…_anything_?"

Wow. Was this my father's feeble attempt at the sex talk with me?

He answered my thoughts. "Yes, it is. So, do you have any questions?"

"Um, Dad. I'm only four. And I don't like Jake like that. We're just friends, just like we've always been," I said looking down at my feet as I spoke. I glimpsed at my mother, Esme, and Carlisle, trying to figure out why they were the ones that were here instead of my Aunts and Uncles.

After thinking about it, I'd determined that my father set up the "what if" team. Carlisle, because he knew everything and anything medical about any question I may have. Esme, because her opinion is always unbiased. My mother was there for two reasons; obviously because she was my mother, but also because she'd been there with Jacob- in all meanings literal and metaphorical. My father was there as a father, to put it simply. Probably also because he would be able to tell if I really did have questions that I was too embarrassed to ask.

"Really guys, I'm fine. Jake and I are fine. I don't have any questions at all. But I promise that if I do, I will come to one of you first."

My father seemed to believe me. "Alright, Nessie. You know where to find us if you change your mind."

"Thanks again," I nervously squeaked out. "I'm glad that I can come to you guys with any, er, boy problems I have in the future. Love you all."

As I was walking back down the stairs, my head was screaming, Awkward!!! I really was grateful for their willingness to help me in any way vampirically possible, though. It was also at times like this when I was extremely thankful that Jake didn't have quite as good of hearing as us. That, and I was pleased that Emmett had kept him busy with the television while I had the sex talk with my parents.

"Who's winning the game?" I asked to anyone willing to peel their eyes from the television for the millisecond it would take to answer me.

"Gators," Emmett answered in a quick, hurried tone.

"Awesome. I guess I'll just play some solitaire by myself then…" I tried to sound as pathetic as possible in a vain attempt to get Jake to come play with me.

He was literally glued to the television. I think a meteor could have landed in the front yard and he wouldn't have noticed. Oh well, who needed stinky boys anyway (no pun intended). I walked into the dining room and sat down. I guess I would have to settle for a solo game of solitaire.

The next week and a half passed by like the rest of my life had; inconsequentially. I spent a couple of days being tutored by Alice, Jasper, and Emmett. Rosalie hadn't been around much to help, but I guess that wasn't too uncommon. She always preferred working on the cars or relaxing with Emmett. Alice actually tutored me a lot, but it was mostly on clothing, accessorizing, and makeup. Those were all low points for me. I didn't really think I'd mind what other kids thought of me. All I needed was the knowledge that my family accepted me for who I was, and I could brave anything the world decided to throw at me.

Jake had received a couple of refresher courses from my tutors as well. He probably needed them a lot more than I did, seeing as he didn't have a photographic memory or anything.

My parents took an afternoon trip to see J. Jenks again. They returned shortly after 9 at night with some papers in their hands.

As they walked into the house, I threw them a questioning glance.

"Nessie, we have something for you," they said to me as they each took a seat on either side of me. My mom laid the papers to her side crinkling them a bit before reaching into her purse. She pulled out a little card and handed it to me.

"It's a driver's license for you, sweetie," she smiled at me. "We wouldn't want you to feel out of place at school tomorrow. I'm sure all of the seniors at Forks High drive, so we thought this might help you out."

"That's awfully nice of you both, but I don't see the point in having a driver's license without a car," I whined.

"Well, Ness, that's the other part of it," my dad beamed.

"Momma and daddy say what?" Were they going to give me a car? Hello dream come true!

My mom took over the conversation now. "When I first moved here, Renesmee, my father bought me Billy Black's old Chevy truck. However, soon after I wed your father, it conveniently died and went to 'truck heaven'…or so he called it." She paused for a brief moment. "Rose, could you come here please?" she softly asked.

Rosalie came dashing into the room with something jingling between her fingers. "Yes, Bella?" She sounded like she was playing the lead role in a film.

I stared at her fingers hoping to catch just a glimpse of something silvery resembling keys in her hand. "OH!" I exclaimed. "Keys! You guys bought me a car!?"

"Not exactly, Nessie," Rose said. "More like fixed one up for you…fixed it a lot for you, actually."

I had a puzzled look on my face.

"If you'll have it, Rose has restored my old truck to full life. That's an understatement, actually. She has it running better than ever, fixed all of the rust spots, and gave it a brand new glossy red paint job. I know it isn't new, but I think it would be a great first car for you, Nessie."

"We promise you that if you still have a clean driving record at graduation, we'll get you a different car," my father said, trying to bargain with the disappointment he read on my face.

I'd seen my mom's old truck rusting away outside, and I never dreamed it _could_ be restored to life. It made sense now…why Rose was out of sight for the majority of the past week and a half. It wasn't _so_ bad I guess. Maybe it even looked halfway decent after the tune up.

"So, one year with the heap of junk will buy me a new car?" I asked to clarify my father's point.

"Yes. You'll have a new car after graduation, contingent upon your driving record. That means that you'll actually have to drive it, Nessie. And don't think that being the Chief of Police's granddaughter will get you out of anything, because it won't. We've already spoken with your grandpa Charlie about this, and he's promised us that he'll be completely fair." My father definitely clarified all of the points, even the ones that I hadn't thought about yet.

"Okay," I sighed. "I guess I can deal for a year. Let me have the keys to _my_ truck, please, Rose."

She reluctantly handed over the keys before insisting that I go outside and look at it immediately.

As Rosalie led the way out to the garage, I was surprised to see Emmett, Jake and Jasper all hovering under the heap of junk's hood staring at lumps of metal.

I heard Jake whistle before turning his attention to Rose. "Dang, Rose. You have given this truck a new chance at life. She looks great! I bet she can get up to a hundred miles per hour now that you've had your way with her."

I reasoned with myself. If Jake thought it was good, then it couldn't possibly be as bad as I'd made it out to be, right? And I only had to drive it for a year before I could get a different car. Plus, Jake would be with me…and he made _anything_ look better. People would be too busy staring at him to bother noticing my truck.

"I guess it's not so bad, Dad," I groaned. I didn't want to like it, but I could see how it was not such a horrible thing. "Thanks, Mom. I know this was your baby, and I'll take good care of it."

Apparently, my mother wasn't too terribly happy either. She loved that truck dearly, and didn't even think to ask Rose for help restoring it.

"Don't worry, Mom. I'll let you drive it," I laughed.

"Thanks, dear. I'd like that very much," she said to me appreciatively while she glared at my dad from the corner of her eye. I could only guess that she was still a little sour from old red 'dying', as my father put it. "It is getting a little late, though, and someone has to get up for school in the morning!" She sounded more excited than I was.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." I suddenly felt very tired and anxious for the next day to come. The first day of my _real_ high school career. New people, new teachers, new subjects to learn! It was exhausting just to think about how great tomorrow would be for me, no matter what kind of car I was driving. I would have Jake with me, and that would make everything much better.

My parents, Jake and I walked to the cottage in the woods. I changed into my pajamas, brushed my teeth and slid under the covers of my bed. My parents and Jake came into my room, each giving me a kiss goodnight and wishing me a good night's sleep. Since my parents didn't really sleep, they let Jake sleep in their room while they cozied up on the couch together.

I closed my eyes and let my thoughts wander to distant times. I dreamed of my first day tomorrow, weighing out the possibilities of what could happen. And then, I started dreaming of Jake and what our relationship could become someday.

Needless to say, I slept well, and awoke fresh and ready to face the day.

**Thanks for everyone that has reviewed/alerted/put this story on their favorites!!  
Please, keep reviewing. They're _so_ helpful, &+ I love knowing what your thoughts about my story are.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note:  
This chapter: Jake & Nessie belong to Stephenie Meyer. The rest are of my own creation. Mwah ha hah.  
Music: Kevin Rudolph, Fergie, Gavin Rossdale**

**Thanks to my loyal reviewers- totallycliche, authoressmegz &+ superdupersk8r61.  
You guys are amazing! (:**

**R&R is greatly appreciated!  
~beta'd by superdupersk8r61 aka the best beta ever.**

**Also--I'm trying to pound out as much of this story as I can before my classes start back up  
****on the 13th. If my updates get slack after then, well...I apologize in advance. =\**

--Aunt Alice had politely chosen an outfit for my first day, knowing that I would be too excited to care about colors matching, accessorizing, or any silly thing like that. I didn't argue or question the clothes before I pulled them on.--

**Nessie's POV**

On my way to the house with Jake, we took a little detour to hunt. I didn't want to take any chances on becoming the 'new, weird girl' in the senior class. I tackled a deer before getting back on route.

I was greeted by all of my family as I walked in the back door to the kitchen. They were all there to wish me well on my first day and to see me off. After nearly being hugged and kissed to death, I grabbed Jake's arm and began dragging him outside to the truck.

"Let's _go_, Jake," I whispered in a stern voice to my uncooperative friend. He seemed to be enjoying my suffering which did not please me one bit.

I finally managed to get him in the passenger seat of old red. I turned the key and the engine roared to life. As we were pulling out, my family was watching on the front porch. Jake, being the amusing guy he is, started doing the 'Miss America' wave to my onlookers. I think I saw Rose's face catch fire with anger.

After we were out of view, I sighed, "Whew. I am glad that's over with. Who would have thought they'd be so…parental."

He grinned at me. "They're just proud of their Nessie, that's all. You should appreciate it. My father has never beamed at me like that before. Oh geez, I wonder what they'll do when you get your first report card with straight A's."

I shivered at the thought. "Let's not cross that bridge 'til we get there." I was fairly certain that we _would_ get there, too. Not to brag, or anything, but I didn't see how I could get a B. I had a photographic memory, and I was already very knowledgeable on a lot of things.

"We're almost there, Jake," I said. I was suddenly extremely nervous. It came out of nowhere, too.

He read my face like a book. "It's okay, Nessie. They'll love you. Everyone has always taken to you very quickly." I realized he was speaking the truth after I thought back for a moment. All of the vampires that came to witness my growth had all taken to me almost instantaneously. Jake's reassurance calmed me.

We pulled into Forks High and found one of the last remaining parking spaces. We both got out of the cab and grabbed our backpacks out of the bed. I didn't really know what to bring, so I had shoved some binders and a couple of notebooks in my bag.

"Ready, Ness?" Jake asked me.

"Ready, Jake," I replied to him. I looked at him for a split second before turning to walk towards the school.

Neither of us knew our schedule, so we walked into the front office to talk to the secretary. Judging by her appearance and my mother's vivid descriptions, this was the same woman that had helped my mother on her first day about six years ago.

She only glanced at me long enough to see my eyes, my mother's eyes, before asking, "Do we have another Swan enrolling in Forks?"

"Oh, no ma'am," I responded politely. "I'm Renesmee Cullen, Edward's youngest sister." This was the plan that my family had come up with for me. To anyone that asked, this is who I was; Edward's sister. It was pretty weird to say my dad's name aloud, but I figured I'd grow used to it in good time.

She looked like she was in shock.

In a vain attempt to get her to snap out of it, I said, "And this is Jacob Black. He's transferring from the school on the Reservation."

Another minute passed before she came to. "Of course. Jacob Black and Renesmee Sw--, Cullen." She cut herself off in mid-wrong-last-name. "I have your schedules right here." She fumbled through some papers before finally retrieving to half sheets of paper. She handed each of us one.

While she was looking for something else, we quickly swapped our papers. She had accidentally given us each other's instead of our own. She managed to recover two more pieces of paper from the random stacks strewn across her desk.

"I'm also giving you each a map of the school. Would you like for me to help you map out the best way, or do you think you both can manage?"

Jake spoke now in his deep husky voice. "I think we can manage, Mrs. Timble. Thanks, though."

"Okay, then. Each of your teachers will need to sign your schedule, and you'll have to bring it back to me at the end of the day," she added on before we left the office.

"We'll see you later Mrs. Timble. Thanks for your help!" I said to her as we swiftly walked outside.

Jake and I now paused to compare schedules. We'd requested as many classes together as possible, and we wound up with four out of the six together. He didn't make it into honors Biology or Calculus.

"Looks like I'll be stuck with you for most of the day," he said to me in a mocking tone.

"Yeah. Whatever will you do?" I gave it right back to him. We both laughed before finding our way to building 3 for our first class of the day; Spanish.

We walked down a short hall and into a small classroom to find that we were the first ones to arrive. This was good, I thought to myself. We could get the teacher to sign our slips and then get pick our seats rather than getting the leftovers from the other students.

I confidently walked up to the teacher and introduced myself. "Hi, my name is Renesmee Cullen. I'm a new student, and Mrs. Timble instructed me to have you sign this slip of paper."

"Well hello, Renesmee," she said before taking the slip out of my hand and signing it 'L. Gómez'. "Mi nombre es Señora Gómez. Bienvenido a la clase de español."

I knew exactly what she had just told me. 'My name is Mrs. Gomez. Welcome to Spanish class'. I then turned to Jake to introduce him when I saw his face twisted up like a puzzle. I was guessing that Spanish was not his strong suit.

"Señora Gómez, this is my friend Jake," I said to her. "He just transferred here from the Reservation."

"Hola, Jake. Debo firmar su papel, también?"

Jake looked quickly at me, pleading with his eyes. I whispered to him, "She asked you if she should sign your paper, too?"

"Oh, yes, por favor," he responded. His spanglish made me laugh inside.

She quickly signed his paper before gesturing toward the desks. "Please, take a seat."

Jake and I chose seats next to each other about halfway back. We didn't want to be in the front and look like geeks, or be in the back and look like stoners, not to be stereotypical or anything. I was rather surprised he actually fit in the desk. He definitely didn't look too comfortable, but he didn't seem to mind much, either.

When the rest of the students started pouring in, Jake and I received many weird glances. There was no doubt in my mind that we would be the subject of many conversations in the cafeteria today.

The rest of class passed by very quickly. Before I knew it, the bell rang, and the students were filing out into the hallway.

"Okay. One down, five to go," I said to Jake reassuringly. "This is where we split, Jake. I have honors bio now in building 2, and you're in building 6, right?"

"Yeah," he groaned. "Pre-calculus."

Our roles had switched since this morning. I was now comforting him. "You'll be okay, Jake. It's only an hour before we see each other again," I smiled at him.

I was actually excited to have a class by myself. Not that I disliked having Jake near me, but I really wanted to meet people and become acquainted.

I quickly found my way to building to and meandered into Mr. Holmstead's class. I handed him my slip, asking him to sign it, before introducing myself.

Mr. Holmstead signed my slip before handing me materials for the class and assigning me a lab partner and table to sit at.

I was one of the first ones in the class again. I walked over to the seat he had motioned towards and sat down on the stool letting my bag slip to the floor. My lab partner hadn't arrived by the time the bell rang, signifying the beginning of class.

"Well**,** that's just great," I mumbled to myself not intending anyone else to hear.

"What's that?" I heard a girl ask me.

"Oh, um. It's nothing really. I'm just kind of disappointed that the one person that would be forced to talk to me today decided not to show." I really was disappointed about it. "I'm Nessie, by the way." I figured I may as well make the most of the situation I had gotten myself into.

"I'm Jenna. And your lab partner didn't ditch…Roman is always late. Late to every class, actually," she said to me.

That made me feel better, and worse too. My lab partner would more than likely arrive and be forced to talk to me, but he would be late. To me, late meant one thing; slacker. I was going to be doing all of the lab work this semester because he'd be too busy doing other things. Go figure.

Sure enough, he walked into class almost five minutes late. Mr. Holmstead made some weird noise at him before saying, "So nice of you to join us, Mr. Murray."

"You bet ya, Mistah H.," he said to Mr. Holmstead before stopping dead in his tracks when he saw me. He quickly resumed his normal pace and took the seat next to me.

What I wouldn't give to have my father's gift right now.

Roman was definitely a good looking guy. His hair was short, brown, and wavy. I barely noticed his beautiful green eyes through the locks of hair that hung in front of them. He wore a pair of old, faded jeans and a polo shirt that fit him very well. I moved hastily to get a notebook from my bag so that I wouldn't stare at him any longer.

"Hi," he said to me in a sweet voice.

"Hey," I replied hoping he didn't hear my voice wavering in nervousness.

"So, you're the new girl?" Man, the guys were way off. You're much prettier than they let on. I bet they didn't think I'd have a class with you. I'm Roman…what's your name?"

"Nessie…well…Renesmee Cullen," I managed to squeak out.

"Renesmee. That is a very…unique name," he said.

"It's a mix of two family names; Renee and Esme." I almost slipped and told him it was a combination of both of my grandmother's names. But that wouldn't work if I was pretending to be Edward's sister.

Mr. Holmstead called the class to attention and began lecturing on photosynthesis; something I was already way too familiar with. Either Roman knew photosynthesis well also, or he didn't care enough to pay attention, because we chatted softly for the rest of class.

Yet again, I could hardly believe it when the bell rang. I shoved my notebook and other materials into my backpack before scurrying out of the classroom to find Jake. It was time for English class, and I wanted to tell him about Jenna and Roman.

I was barely out into the hallway when a strong, hot hand grasped my arm and pulled me aside. I wheeled myself around to find Jake standing with one foot propped up against the cinderblock wall behind him. "Hey, Jake," I said happily not bothering to contain my excitement. "I think I just made _two_ friends!"

"Wow, Ness. You don't waste any time, do you?" he laughed at me. "I think I made a couple too, so I can't really talk, either."

"Hey, we'd better get to English before the bell rings." The halls were starting to clear out and we still had to get to building 4. We walked swiftly side by side. I'm sure Jake was close to two full feet taller than me, but I didn't mind.

We slid into two empty seats second before the bell rang. "I guess we'll get him to sign our slips after class."

The teacher, whose name I did not catch, handed out a reading list for the semester. Thankfully, I'd read the majority of them before. Jake didn't look too appeased by the lengthy list and groaned defiantly next to me. A quick look from the teacher shut him up.

After a minute, when he thought it was safe again, we started talking. We talked about our new friends and what I thought of public school so far, among other things.

The bell rang, and after getting the teacher to sign our slips, we made our way outside and began walking to the gym.

Today's gym class consisted of going over rules and safety things, so we didn't have to dress out. I was lucky, in that I inherited my father's ability to be good at things naturally- sports and athletics included.

Jake and I sat patiently, waiting for Mr. Childers to finish going over everything. He finished up a few minutes early and dismissed class. We went to him and introduced ourselves before getting him to sign our slip.

"Lunch time," Jake exclaimed as he quickened his pace. I'd almost forgotten that he needed a lot of food to keep him happy.

We got to the cafeteria in no time flat, and before the majority of the school. I bet Jake was singing praises to Mr. Childers in his head right now for dismissing us early. He piled the food high on his tray and grabbed two bottles of water before going to pay the cashier. I settled for lemonade and a bag of pretzels.

Jake and I went and sat at a small, round table near the back of the cafeteria. He was already shoving food down his throat before I had the chance to open my lemonade. I'd started sipping and began opening my pretzels when I heard someone call my name…or at least I thought someone called it. I couldn't be sure with all of the noises around me if I'd heard someone talking about me, or actually trying to get my attention.

I turned my head to the side, trying to see if anyone was looking at me. To my surprise, Roman was walking in my direction, staring straight at me. I quickly turned back around and refocused my attention on my pretzels.

"Hey, Nessie!" he beamed. "Do you mind if I sit with you?"

He really was talking to me. Okay, I said to myself. I can handle this. "Sure," I said trying to sound as nonchalant as humanly possible.

Roman took the seat to my right, staring at Jake eating like a pig.

I muffled a cough in my throat to try and get Jake's attention before speaking to him directly. "Jake, this is Roman. My lab partner that I was telling you about earlier."

Thankfully, Jake swallowed his food before answering. "Nice to meet you, Roman." His attention returned almost immediately to the food on his plate.

"So you were talking about me, Nessie?" he questioned.

My cheeks flushed. I collected myself before answering, though it didn't do much good. "I just told him that you were my lab partner…that's it. And maybe that I thought we were friends, but I'm not really sure because I kind of only have one friend, which is Jacob, because I've been home schooled up until now, and I'm a social freak, and you can probably tell that by now because I'm rambling my head off."

"Woah woah woah. Slow down, Nessie. Breathe. There you go," he said to me calming me almost immediately. "You can definitely call us friends, and I had no idea that you were homeschooled before you just told me. That must have been different."

"Yes, it certainly was," I replied, completely in control of myself again.

Jake had finished his food and was downing the water he'd purchased when the bell rang to go to next period. "What do you have next?" he asked me.

"I have Calculus in building 1. You?"

Before Jake could answer me, Roman was talking. "Hey, I have Calculus now, too! Let's walk together."

"I'll just meet you in building 2 for history after class, I guess," Jake pouted.

"See you later," I pouted back before being rushed to class. I wish Jake didn't look so pitiful when he was sad or upset. It made leaving his side a lot more difficult than usual.

Roman talked the whole way to class, the whole way through class, and a little afterwards before I managed to pry myself away to go to history. Did this kid ever shut up?

"Jake!" I said exuberantly.

"Nessie," he replied equally as happy to see me.

"I didn't think Roman would ever stop talking! How was your class?" I asked him.

"Oh, biology was fine. Would have been a lot better with you there, though."

"Aww, thanks Jake. Calculus would have sucked _a lot_ less with you there too."

History passed by too fast and before I knew it, I had finished my first day of high school. It was exhausting! I didn't see how kids did this for 180 days of the year for thirteen years in a row. I would have to put on a brave face for my parents so they wouldn't pull me out.

Jake had his arm hanging lazily over my shoulder on the way out to my truck. I didn't really want to drive, so I chucked the keys at him hoping he wouldn't mind driving it. His face lit up with joy as he got behind the wheel.

I decided I would take a cat nap on the way home to try and appear livelier to my parents when we got there. The last thing I wanted was for them to think real school was too much for me.

**Review, yo. Lemme know. So i can grow. Lol...SO korny, but whatev...... **↓


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note:  
Jake & Nessie belong to Stephenie Meyer. The rest are of my own creation. Mwah ha hah.  
Music: Pearl Jam, Nickelback, Jet**

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed, favorited &+ put this story on their alerts (:  
Extra special thanks to my beta, superdupersk8r61. I would still be _very_ stuck with this one if it wasn't for her!**

**Soooo… This chapter was a pain in the butt!!! It is however, my longest so far- over 4,000 words! Eek.  
Please, please, please- let me know what you think!  
**

--I decided I would take a cat nap on the way home to try and appear livelier to my parents when we got there. The last thing I wanted was for them to think real school was too much for me.—

**Nessie's POV**

I awoke to Jake nudging my shoulder. Apparently, after I'd fallen asleep, I kind of fell over and wound up sleeping on him. That explained why my cheek was burning hot. I glanced at him and saw a smile plastered across his face, and his eyes staring ahead at something.

I turned my head, trying to follow his eyes. I didn't have to look far. Just like when I had left earlier that morning, all of my family was standing on the front porch waiting for me to come home. Okay, I thought to myself. I just have to be lively for a little while to prove to them that I can handle this, and then I can conk out for the night. Crap. I shouldn't have just thought all of that…I'm sure Dad heard me.

Dad's expression didn't change. That meant one of two things. Either I was 'out of range', which I highly doubted because we were so close when I thought that. Or, he has more faith in me than the rest of my family.

I smiled at Jake, and he gave my hand a little squeeze before I pushed the door to my truck open.

"Hi, guys!" I exclaimed, trying to sound as awake as possible.

I was greeted by a mumbling of "Hi, hello, and 'how was your day?'"

As I was walking up the steps onto the porch, I tripped on the second one and fell face forward to greet the other steps rather personally. I guess I was still pretty tired. Before I had time to pull myself up, two cold hands had grabbed both of my arms and were yanking me up. It was my father.

"Looks like you have a bit more of your mother in you than we thought," he said turning to smile at my mother. I was pretty sure he knew I didn't fall because I was clumsy, but I was grateful for his excuse either way.

"Tell us all about your day, Nessie! We want to hear _everything_!" my mother said cheerfully.

I carefully climbed the rest of the stairs and walked inside before sitting down on the big, comfy couch in the living room. Jake trailed behind us and sat in the recliner because my parents flanked either side of me on the couch.

"Well," I started, "It was long…but I really, really like it." Rather than telling them every single detail about my day, I figured it would be easier to show them. I pressed one of my little hands against each of their cool, hard faces, and began to show them my day. I showed them our encounter with Mrs. Timble, all of my classes, my teachers, and my new friends that I had made. I think they both might have noticed that I focused a little bit more on Roman, but neither of them said anything. I wondered if they would have if Jake hadn't been in the room at the time.

"Wow! That was quite a day you had, Nessie. I bet you're really exhausted from it, aren't you?" my mother asked me.

"Not really. I'm actually fine right now, aside from being a bit hungry."

Jake jumped into the conversation now, "Do you want to go hunting?"

"Um, no thanks, Jake," I replied. "I think, and I know this is weird…but I think I want some human food."

I received weird glances from my family. I was a bit shocked at myself that I wanted something that was usually as appalling as nasty human food. I wrote it off as having to be so…human, for lack of a better word, all day, and maybe from being around them all day too.

My father stood up from the couch and made his way into the kitchen. My mom, Jake, and I followed swiftly behind him. I sat on a stool behind the counter while my parents picked out some ingredients from the fridge to make me something. Jake came and sat next to me with a hopeful look in his eyes.

"Um, do you think you could make enough for two?" I asked politely.

My father spun around and saw Jake sitting next to me, fully equipped with his powerful puppy dog face, lip stuck out and everything. I think it was physically impossible, even for my father, to resist such a face.

"Of course, two meals, coming right up," my father replied as he grabbed a chef's hat off of the counter and put it on his head.

My mom sucker punched him in the arm and took the ridiculous hat off of him setting it back on the counter.

From the look, and smell of it, my dad was making us breakfast for dinner. My favorite! Considering that he didn't eat human food, he could sure cook it like he'd been eating it for all of his 121 year old life.

"Thanks, dad!" I squeaked with excitement as I began to eat the eggs and bacon he'd set in front of me.

Jake already had his mouth full, but managed to muffle out a "Thank you" trying to be as polite as possible. I guess he didn't realize it was just as rude to talk with your mouth full.

In any case, we both finished our dinner while my parents stared googley eyed at each other.

"Aww, c'mon you guys! I'm trying to digest here, and I don't want it to come back up!" Even though Jake had been dealing with my parent's relationship for several years, I don't think it ever got any easier for him.

"Mom, Dad. I think I'm going to head to the cottage and get some sleep. I'm pretty tired, now that I have a full stomach, and I want to be well rested for my second day of school! Plus, I'm with Jake on this one- I don't want to watch you two doing your mind tricks on each other."

"Okay, Nessie," they both said to me at the same time before turning to laugh at each other, at the same time. It could definitely get sickening sometimes, how in synch they were with one another.

"Have a good night's sleep, and we'll see you in the morning," my mother crooned to me.

Jake stood up with me, and we walked out the back door towards the cottage. We walked in silence for a few minutes before he began talking.

"So, I didn't really get to tell you much about my day…"

I didn't say anything. I was barely coherent because I was so drained.

He went on anyway. "Well, I've made a couple of friends too. And I was thinking that maybe tomorrow, we could sit with them at lunch. You know, so it's not just you, me and that Roman kid. They're really nice, and I think they'd love you!"

I stopped walking for a minute before looking up at his towering figure. The way the moonlight shone through the trees hit his hair at the most interesting angle. It was like he had a halo or something around his dark, jet black hair. I was at a loss for words. Something skittering along the forest floor rustled the leaves bringing me back to consciousness.

"Sure," I said sleepily.

"Geez, Ness. Don't pass out on me," he begged. "We're almost to the cottage, and then you can crawl right into bed."

"Sure," I said again, even less alert than before. I managed to stumble my way down the stone path leading to the front door. Jake reached in front of me and turned the handle, opening the door to my family's little home.

I dragged my heels down the short hall, kicked off my shoes, and collapsed on my bed. I didn't even bother to brush my teeth or change into my pajamas. I felt something hot near me, but I couldn't force my eyes open to see what it was. I could only assume it was Jake. The comforter was being pulled from under me, and my legs were being pushed under them.

He leaned over me, kissed my forehead lightly, and whispered, "Sleep well, beautiful."

*****

I woke up before my alarm had a chance to go off. Rather than getting up, I just laid there staring at my ceiling, thinking. My mind began to wander as I vaguely remembered Jake kissing my forehead last night, and for some odd reason, that made me think about Roman. What was that kid's deal anyway? He seemed nice enough, but I desperately wanted to know more about him. Why did he target me as his new talking buddy? Why was he always late to class? Did he _like me, like me_ or just _like _me? I felt like such a teenager asking myself these seemingly stupid questions. What did it matter what he thought of me. Roman was making me question who I was.

I nearly jumped when my alarm clock buzzed loudly letting me know it was 7 a.m. I hopped out of bed, pulled on a pair of skinny jeans and found a deep red polo shirt to match. I walked out of my room and into the bathroom where I dealt with my mess of a hair and brushed my teeth for twice as long to make up for skipping the previous night.

When I walked out to the living room, my parents and Jake were already sitting there.

"Morning, everyone," I yawned.

"Did you sleep well?" my mother asked.

"I literally slept like a rock. I don't think a rocket ship landing outside the house would have woken me up. But I feel reenergized and ready to face the day," I replied to her in an assuring voice. I knew she was bound to be worrying about how school was affecting me.

I picked my backpack up from the nearby table, suddenly very happy that I didn't have any homework from the day before. I motioned towards the door as I looked at Jake, "Shall we?"

He went along with it. "We shall," he smiled as he picked up his bag and swung it around his shoulder.

My parents wished me well on my second day of school, and off we went to Old Red. Jake handed me the keys he still had from driving home yesterday, and I cranked the engine. I didn't get another embarrassing goodbye this morning, which I was thankful for.

We were among the first people to get to school today. Jake and I dashed from the truck to the awning under the nearest building trying to avoid the torrential downpour that had just begun. I remembered that I had put an umbrella in my bag just in case, so I reached around to get it out. Jake was obviously too tall for me to cover with it, even if I stood on my tippy toes, so I handed it to him to hold.

He graciously took it, popped it open, and we began walking to Spanish. We received a few odd glances, but aside from that, we made it to Spanish unscathed.

Class went by faster than I thought was possible. The bell had rung, snapping me out of my daze, and I hurriedly gathered my books and departed from Jake to head to honors Bio. Being the gentleman he is, he let me have the umbrella while he would have to face the rain unarmed.

Something occurred to me as I was walking. Roman was in my class, with me. The _honors_ class, so he couldn't be too dense, could he?

I walked into class and had to do a double take. Roman was already there, sitting at our lab table with his books out and ready for class. I walked to my seat rather confused. I was not the only one that had to glance more than once, either. Nearly every student that walked in class after me stared absent mindedly at him for a moment.

Hadn't Jenna said he was _always_ late to class? I wanted to play it off as her being dramatic, and I would have if it weren't for the other students looking as puzzled as me.

"Hello, Renesmee," he greeted.

"Roman," I replied. I was too curious to contain myself. "Not to be rude or anything, but why are you here?"

"I am in this biology class, Nessie. And I do happen to be lucky enough to have you as a lab partner…so we kind of have to sit at the same table."

"Yes, no. I'm aware of that. But you're always late to class…so why are you here now, _before_ class starts?"

"I am not _always_ late," he responded to me almost sounding offended at my question.

"Is that so? Then why did nearly every student do a double take at your presence _before_ class started? Even Mr. Holmstead looks rather surprised to see you gracing him with your presence, _on time_," I added.

Before he had a chance to answer me, lecture began. We were learning more about photosynthesis today. I pretended to pay attention, but failed rather miserably. I could see him staring at me out of my peripherals, and it took everything I had not to turn and face him. I was pretty sure he saw the smile on my face, and I was also sure he could tell I wasn't smiling at the ever so alluring photosynthesis lecture.

Biology passed by _much_ slower than Spanish had. I felt like it took twice as long when I knew it was the same amount of time.

When the bell rang, I closed my books and put them back in my bag.

"Guess I'll see ya at lunch," Roman said to me.

"I'm kind of eating with some of Jake's friends today, sorry," I told him.

"Oh…that's fine. See you later, then." His voice revealed the sadness he was trying to hide.

I went down to the gym and dressed out before going to find Jacob. He was already sitting in the gym on the bleachers when he saw me.

"Nessie!" he grinned. "My friends are really anxious to meet you at lunch today. I've told them all about you, and they genuinely seem excited."

"Yeah. Most likely because they've heard stuff about the Cullens. They're probably just hoping I'm as fascinating as my parents," I said unenthused.

"Don't say that, Ness. You're parents weren't _that _fascinating, either. There just isn't anything in this town that mirrors their complexity. That's all."

"Maybe so, we'll see in an hour or so." I was only too eager for gym to start so that our conversation didn't have to continue.

After playing volleyball for forty five minutes, switching teams every fifteen minutes, Mr. Childers dismissed us. I went to the locker room and changed back into my regular clothes.

Jake was waiting anxiously for me out in the hall. I handed him the umbrella and we walked up to the cafeteria.

He piled the food on his plate, just like yesterday. I only got bottled water today. I wasn't very hungry, and I didn't want the other students to find something to make fun of me for. Water seemed pretty harmless compared to the sloppy joes Jake had.

I followed him to a table where he was greeted warmly, and where I received weird stares. This was going to be _great…_

Jake turned to everyone at the table. "Abby, Dave, Justin, Emma- this is my friend Nessie, the one I've been talking about in class."

I heard them all mutter something intended as a greeting, but it sounded more like they were just trying to please Jake. I was right. They didn't particularly want me to be joining them for lunch.

I sat in silence for the most of lunch, sipping on my water every now and again. Justin and Emma were dating, so they were deeply engaged in a conversation. And to my surprise, Jake didn't try to include me. Or maybe he was trying, but that Abby girl kept redirecting his attention to her. She fluttered her eyelashes at him and kept saying really stupid things that didn't make a lick of sense- at all. Was she…flirting? With…_Jake_?

I believe that's what she was trying to, mostly because of Jake's reaction.

He didn't seem to notice that she wasn't making sense, nor did he seem to mind the whole eyelash brigade going on. Jake was giving it right back to her. He would lean in to their sad attempt at a conversation before pulling sharply away with an amused expression on his face when it seemed appropriate.

"Jacob, you are _so _funny!" she smiled at him over-fluttering her eyelashes yet again.

"Aww, no. You're really the only one that thinks I'm that funny," he replied trying to degrade himself so that she would make him feel better about himself.

'I think I'm going to be sick', I thought to myself. I abruptly stood up and began walking towards the ladies room. Maybe being out of sight from them would ease my nerves. The strange thing was that watching them made something inside of me change. I suddenly had no tolerance for Abby. I analyzed her every move trying to dislike her as much as I could. Was this what they called jealousy? I couldn't be sure because it was the first time that I was feeling it, but I had an odd hunch that it was jealousy. I was jealous of Abby.

I couldn't see why though. She was pretty and smart, but she had nothing on me, right? I was going insane trying to convince myself that I was better than _her_.

I was barely out of Jake and Abby's sight when I heard another set of shoes hitting the tiled floor behind me. I kept walking, trying to make my way to the ladies room.

"Nessie," he called after me. I turned to see Roman scurrying towards me.

"What do you want, Roman?" I asked him.

"Oh, I er…I thought you wanted me to follow you. I thought I saw you look in my direction before you got up to leave the cafeteria."

"Oh," was all I managed to squeak out as he moved closer to me, staring at me with those beautiful green eyes of his.

I was locked in with his gaze; something he misread as desire.

Before I had time to react, I felt his lips crash against my own. He took one of his hands and put it on the back of my head, trying to force us closer together.

I pushed away from him with all of the force that I had. "What was _that_?" I shouted.

"It was a kiss, silly," he answered me. Yet again, he was misreading me, playing off my anger as something pertaining to satisfaction with what he'd done.

"No. Roman. _Why_ did you just kiss me?" I lowered my voice this time so as to avoid more attention than necessary.

"Oh, I thought you wanted me to. I saw you look at me in the cafeteria before you left" – this was something I did not do intentionally, if at all – "and then, just now, you were staring at me so deeply. I thought you wanted me to kiss you. And I know that I wanted to kiss you…so I did. I like you a lot, Nessie."

Without thinking, I blurted out the first thing that popped in my head. "I love Jacob!" Oh crap, did I just say that out loud?

Roman was staring at me in disbelief. "I don't care if you love him, Renesmee. You're one of a kind, and I want you to be mine."

I just kept shaking my head back and forth, willing myself to say something. I was thankful that nothing came to mind. Only God knows what damage I could cause to myself and others when I spoke without thinking.

Instead of standing there like a dumbfounded idiot, I stalked off down the hall. All I wanted was to see Jake and tell him what had just happen. I wanted to tell him _all_ of it.

The ball hadn't rung yet, so I ran back to the cafeteria hoping to find him there. I turned the last corner before it was a straight hall to the cafeteria and stopped dead in my tracks.

I couldn't believe what I saw in front of me. Abby and Jake were having a make out session in the middle of the hall, in broad daylight! I was enraged, again. What happen to 'I only have eyes for you, Nessie'. Ugh.

I didn't know what to do. If I went back the direction from where I'd just come, I would run into Roman again. If I stayed here much longer, Jake was sure to see me.

I was at a crossroad, in more than one way.

**-- Review!! Let me know how you guys are feeling about it!! (this ch., this story., the guy that blew you off at work today., etc., w/e)**


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note:  
Jake & Nessie belong to Stephenie Meyer. The rest are of my own creation. Mwah ha hah.  
Music: Puddle of Mudd, A7X, Muse**

**Sorry for the lack of updating; classes started back up today :-\ Unfortunately, depending on my homework/reading load, updates may get more spaced out.**

**My awesome beta, superdupersk8r61, and I have been freakishly in sync with each other. Lucky for you guys, that makes the story _that _much better!**

**R&R! I **_**think**_** I responded to all of the reviews, but if I left you out, I'm terribly sorry! (I do appreciate your all of them).**

--I was at a crossroad, in more than one way.—

**Nessie's POV**

I only had a second to make my decision. Fight or flight, in a sense. I chose flight.

I ran like a dog with my tail between my legs back to Roman, tears starting to stream down my face. I hoped that I'd be able to shove my way past him and make my way into the bathroom without him seeing me crying, but of course, I wasn't that lucky.

Roman had begun sulking his way back to the cafeteria when I literally ran into him, splattering him with my tears and falling backward in response to the blow. I recuperated quickly. I pulled myself up and carefully walked around Roman, who was still on the floor, and darted for the bathroom.

I locked myself in a stall before sinking against the hard, metal walls containing me. I pulled my knees up tightly to my chest, and held my head with my hands and let the tears come out freely.

"Renesmee…are you in here?" I heard him cautiously ask before entering the girl's bathroom.

I didn't say anything, but my sobs were enough to convince him that I was there.

"Just go away, Roman. I don't want to talk to you, or anyone else for that matter."

I didn't hear him moving away from the stall. "I want to help…what's wrong?"

"It's none of your business. _Just_ _leave me alone_," I spat at him.

Thankfully, I heard the bell ring, and the sound of his feet getting further away. I waited a good ten minutes to make sure that everyone would be in class so that I could make my escape.

I didn't want to stay at school any longer to risk an awkward Jake-moment. He could find his own way home; I didn't really care at this point.

I cautiously opened the stall door and quietly made my way out into the hall. There he was. Did he seriously not understand that I just wanted to be by myself?

"Roman. Go to class," I demanded.

"No. Not if you're not going," he said back to me.

"I'm not going to class. I'm ditching for the rest of the day. You, however, _should_ go to class."

"I said, no. I'm not going to class unless you're there. I don't have anything to do without you there, and I've already done what Mrs. Fuller is 'teaching' today, anyways. I'll just ditch with you."

At this point, I just wanted to peace out before someone with authority caught us loitering in the halls. "Ugh," I groaned. "Fine. Whatever. But you shouldn't expect me to be good company. I'm _not_ in a good mood by any means."

"Alright, Nessie. Let's go then," he said as he casually motioned to the parking lot.

I walked swiftly in front of him, heading toward my truck, when he stopped. "Aren't we going to take my car?" he asked me, looking anxiously toward his Honda.

"I'd rather take my truck, if that's alright. I'd like to give Jake as much trouble as possible," I responded. "Plus, I bet his new _girlfriend_ could give him a ride home. Ugh."

"Okay," he said quietly and began walking towards my truck again.

I hopped in the driver's seat, cranked the engine, shoved it into reverse and gunned it backwards.

Roman hurriedly grabbed the dashboard and looked at me with a panicky face on. "Maybe you should let me drive," he said. "You're still a bit upset, and I wouldn't want you to break your truck…" he trailed off.

"No thanks. I'll be fine," I responded sounding a bit chipper. I put my truck in drive, and began creeping forward at an extremely sluggish speed. "Is this better for you, grandma?"

"Yes, much better. Thanks," he said sarcastically. "Where are we going, anyway?" he asked me as we picked up speed on the highway.

"I don't know, really. I don't want to go home, and I don't want to go to La Push either…how would you feel about going to a park for the afternoon?"

"Park sounds…fun," he answered after deliberating for a moment.

"Look," he said as I drove toward the park, "I'm sorry about how I acted earlier. I shouldn't have kissed you…or maybe I should have found out how you felt about me before I decided to put the moves on ya," he winked at me. "I really am sorry, though. But I meant what I said. You, Renesmee, are one of a kind. Unique and special, and you don't deserve to be treated badly. Not that I'm saying Jake treats you badly, or anything, but I would treat you differently," he smiled at me.

"And I certainly wouldn't go off kissing other girls in plain view…," he murmured under his breath.

"I know you wouldn't, Roman. I really shouldn't be angry with Jake. I told him that I wanted to try different things before I committed myself to anything serious," I admitted. "He should be able to do the same. It was just so hard seeing him kiss someone like _that_." The image of them smooching popped back up into my head, causing me to make a disgusted noise out loud.

"…Try different things?" he quoted me.

Only when he repeated it did I realize I'd actually said that.

He stumbled over his words, finally managing to get out what he was trying to say. "Would you…umm…would you maybe…be interested…in trying with me? I mean…we don't have to tell anyone for a while, if you don't want to…It's just that…that I'd really like to date you, Nessie."

I gulped and quickly made a pro-con list in my head. Pros: Roman, letting Jake do what he wanted for a while, Roman, dating Roman… Cons: '…hmm…,' I thought. Nothing came to mind.

"Well," I sighed. "I suppose at this point, no harm could be done. And I'd rather we didn't keep it a secret, Roman. We shouldn't go around blabbing to people, or anything, but if they find out, then they find out. No big deal."

"Really? Sweet! Nessie, you're my girlfriend," he said to me over excitedly. "We'll be the best couple at Forks High, and I promise that I'll treat you right. I promise!" He reached over and grabbed my hand, putting it in his own with a huge smile across his face.

We pulled into the parking lot of Forks Community Park, and I tried to dislodge my hand from his to turn the truck off and get out. He obviously had something else in mind as he turned the ignition off with his free hand and started sliding toward me.

'Oh crap,' I thought to myself. I'd already been through enough emotional torture for one day, and I didn't know if I could handle another kiss from him.

I closed my eyes and leaned my head back awkwardly against the headrest and I felt his arm graze my stomach as he continued reaching past me. I heard a strained noise and then felt the cool draft from outside whooshing in. It felt good against my hot skin.

Roman had reached across me only to open the door. "I just got you, Nessie. I don't want to let go already," he said to me.

I sighed in relief as we both slid out of my truck via the driver's side door.

We walked hand in hand across the wood chips strewn on the park floor. Little children were enjoying the beautiful day outside as they skipped around playing with one another.

Roman and I found our way to the swings and sat down on them, still holding hands.

"You do realize you'll have to let my hand go sometime, right?"

"Yeah, I know," he whined. "But until then, you're stuck with me."

We sat there for the longest time, swinging back and forth, talking about random things. He was careful not to mention anything Jake-related.

He told me a lot about his family; his parents divorced when he was younger, and he lives with his mom, Kathleen. He also has a younger sister, Gabriella. They're all nature and animal lovers (something I wouldn't have pictured Roman as), but then again, he wasn't anything what I expected. He'd been a constant surprise since day one, shocking me with every word he spoke. It was weird, I was with him, I felt like everything would be alright. Jake didn't matter anymore. Things would work out the way they were supposed to.

If Roman hadn't suppressed a shiver, I wouldn't have noticed the time. It was twilight, and I could see dark clouds off in the distance starting to move in.

"We should probably get going, Roman," I said. "I wouldn't want your parents to not like me right off the bat. They should at least get to know me before they do that," I laughed.

"You're probably right. I guess we should head back to the high school to get my car."

We meandered our way back to the truck where he opened my door, slid in and then pulled me in next to him. He stayed in the middle seat of the truck. I looked at him to see if he was going to start the engine for me, since my right hand was preoccupied, but that didn't seem to be on his agenda.

He let go of my hand, and did a half yawn as he stretched his arms up into the air trying to nonchalantly put his left one behind me. I didn't mind, just laughed on the inside at how cliché it all seemed to me.

I started the engine and headed back from where we'd come to get his truck.

It was a quiet ride back to the school. I think we were both reveling in the events of the day, at least I know I was.

As we pulled back into the parking lot, I was stunned to see Jake sitting on the parking block next to Roman's car. I almost didn't turn the wheel to curve around the school's drive.

Roman quickly pulled his hand out from me, running it through his brown locks of hair. He looked at me to see what my reaction was to Jake waiting. I don't know what he saw; I couldn't recognize the own look on my face.

"It'll be okay, Nessie," he whispered softly to me. "I know you guys need to talk…just, please call me later…after you've talked it over. Okay? Please?"

"Sure," was all I managed to peep out.

Roman slid out of _his_ side of the truck, leaving the door open, and waving timidly at Jake as he unlocked his own car.

I'm pretty sure Jake gave him a look of death, because Roman cranked his car up and sped out of sight faster than I'd ever seen anyone, aside from my family, drive.

Jake walked over to the truck, getting in as he slammed the door shut.

This was going to be, by far, the worst ride I'd ever had with him. Trying to make it as short as possible, I sped out of the parking lot nearly as fast as Roman had. After remembering the whole car, graduation stipulation, I reluctantly slowed down to the speed limit; an agonizing 35 miles per hour.

"Did you have a fun afternoon?" he smirked at me.

"Yes, actually, I did. I had a wonderful afternoon. Though, it did get a lot better after I ditched because of you and Abby hamming it up in the hallway," I shot at him.

"We weren't doing anything, Nessie," he claimed.

"Nothing? You're joking, right? 'Nothing' being making out in the middle of the hall for all eyes to see?"

"We weren't doing anything that you seemed to mind doing with Roman 'in the middle of the hall of all eyes to see'", he sneered at me.

"He kissed _me_, Jake. I didn't know he was going to, and I didn't want him to. Butt out, would you?"

I was so frustrated with him, and to make it _that much better_, I was now behind some senior citizen that deemed 25 to be an appropriate speed limit. It was going to take twice as long for me to get home now.

"Oh, and I suppose that you didn't want him to be in the middle seat of your truck with his arm wrapped around you on the way back here, either, did you?"

"I didn't mind it Jake. It was appropriate, though."

"How in the world was it appropriate? I thought you'd be just at peeved as him as you are with me right now…especially after he _forced_ that horrible kiss on you."

I couldn't hold it in longer, and Jake was bound to find out sooner or later. "We're dating, Jake. He asked me to be his girlfriend, and I accepted." I cringed to the side waiting for Jake's response.

His hands started to tremble, but stopped within a minute. "Dating…wow," he said in a surprisingly calm voice. "Okay, Nessie."

"Okay? No lecture about how he isn't right from me? No grief about it?" I wasn't trying to provoke our fight further, but I expected a reaction much, much different than what he gave me.

"I'll let your parents do the lecturing," he smiled.

"You're wrong, Jake. They won't lecture me. They've already had the 'sex talk' with me, and they'll respect my decision to date Roman."

"They had _what_ talk with you?" he questioned.

"The 'sex talk'…my parents and grandparents wanted to know if I had any…er…questions about _it_. It was after they knew you'd told me about imprinting," I answered him.

He blushed a little. "Oh. Well…then I hope you and Roman are _very_ happy together."

"Relax, Jake," I said. "We're not going to have that kind of a relationship. Speaking of relationships…good luck with your relationship with Abby."

"We're not dating, Ness," he admitted.

"Why not? You two _obviously_ like each other…," I trailed off.

"I've already told you once. I only have eyes for you," he reminded me.

So we were back to that again. What fun. "Jake, don't be like that. It's unfair to you for me to date someone else while you sit miserably on the sidelines. You should date Abby. I'm not going to lie; I don't particularly care for her, but it's something you should do…if you want to."

"Why don't you like her?"

"Mostly because she hogs all of your attention, but also because she makes you smile and act like a giddy toddler. Be yourself, Jacob. If she doesn't like you for who you are, then there is no sense wasting your time. I bet my friend Jenna would love to go on a date with you. If you're interested, I could totally set you two up on a date!"

"Um, no thanks," he said. "If you're sure, then maybe I'll ask Abby to be my girlfriend. I don't know, though. I feel like I'm cheating on you or something."

We were almost home now. "Not to sound mean, but you can't cheat on something you never had. And I mean that in the nicest way, Jake. We aren't dating, and we haven't dated. You aren't cheating on me."

"Okay, we'll see then. I have to think some things over," he said.

"Oh, and Jake. If you could not think or tell my parents about Roman just yet, that would be great. I will tell them, but I want to be the one to tell them. I don't want dad to have to see what you and I just went through over him…I think it would give him the wrong first impression of Roman."

"Sure, sure," he answered me. "Where have we been since school ended, in case they ask?"

Jake was too good of a friend to me. "Oh. Well, I guess we could have stayed late after school for some tutoring. Oh, and maybe after that, we went to hang out with some friends at their house? I'm sure they'll believe that," I said to reassure myself and Jake.

"Okay," he smiled at me. "Tutoring and a friend's house it was," he confirmed.

Now if only I could find the right way to tell my parents about Roman, the guy that didn't imprint on me.

**Review, please! Honest feedback is much appreciated. **

**Also – What do you all think has been going on with Jake & his semi-bipolar-ness? (There is no right or wrong answer, I'm just curious).**


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Note:  
Sadly, I do not own Twilight or the characters...Stephenie Meyer does.**

**Special thanks to my wonderful beta, superdupersk8r61  
Also, thanks for all of the reviews, subscriptions & alerts (:**

**R&R!**

**Btw- sorry it took a bit longer for me to update...To make up for it, this chatper is _extra, extra_ long! Definitely trumps chapter 6 by about 2,000 words.**

--Now if only I could find the right way to tell my parents about Roman, the guy that didn't imprint on me.--

**Nessie's POV**

I drove down the dirt road to the house, Jake now sitting silently staring out the window. I didn't know whether he was trying to avoid talking to me because of our argument, or if he was really just looking out the window for fun. The former seemed more plausible to me.

Jake was slower to get out of the truck, but slammed my door shut nevertheless. He must've still been a bit peeved with me, but he hid it well for the most part. I guess he knew that we had to face my parents now.

From outside, I heard my dad playing the piano. This usually only happened when he was trying to calm my mother's nerves. I could make an intelligent guess that my mother was anxious because we'd been late getting home, which meant that this was going to be tougher than I'd hoped.

"So nice of you two to join us," she said sarcastically to us as we walked through the door. My dad continued to play the piano, but his eyes followed Jake and me into the living room.

We both meandered over to the couch that was partially behind the piano so we could avoid my father's death stare. My mom resumed her post by my dad, but she was facing us rather than him.

So much for trying to avoid my dad's death stares. We were now getting them from my mom.

I didn't want to give her the chance to start grilling me, so I figured apologizing would be the best way to start our conversation.

"I'm really sorry, Mom... Jake and I got some tutoring after school and then we went to my friend Jenna's house to hang out. I should have called, I know. I'm sorry. Grounded for a week, no television or phone, sound good to you?" I really hoped she wouldn't ground me, but in my 6 years of living, I'd found it much easier to offer myself consequences because then she felt too guilty to follow through with them."

"Oh honey, you don't need to ground yourself. I was just worried sick about you. You're my pride and joy, and to not have you home or know where you were…it was just plain horrible. I don't see how your Grandpa Charlie ever managed to keep tabs on me. I'll give him credit though, because it is much harder than he ever let on."

Jake spoke now, "We really _are_ sorry, Bella." Even after all this time, it was still a little weird for me to hear Jacob call my mother by her first name. "We were having so much fun at Jenna's, we kind of forgot the time."

"It's okay Jake, but please don't let it happen again if you're with Nessie. Okay?"

"Sure, sure," he replied to her before leaning back on the couch giving me a look. A look that said 'you'd better tell them what's going on with you before your father hears it in my thought's'. I rolled my eyes, but figured that he was probably right.

"Mom, Dad? Can I talk to you guys about something?" I asked them.

"Of course, Renesmee," my father responded. "What would you like to talk about?"

"Well…I kind of…sort of…have this guy friend that has very recently, as in today recently, become my…my um…"

"Boyfriend," Jake finished for me.

It was my turn to give the death glare now. "I thought _I_ was going to tell them, Jake," I murmured under my breath.

He just sat there silently smiling at me, too busy being smug to notice anything else aside from my parent's reaction.

My parents were staring each other in the eyes, no doubt having one of their silent conversations. My mother finally broke free and turned to me.

"We knew this was going to happen one day, Nessie," she said. "I guess it's just come sooner than we expected. He didn't even tell you about imprinting until a week ago, and we never imagined you'd be so quick to think of him differently…"

"Woah! Hold on you guys," I said trying to figure out what was going on. "My, er…boyfriend, is _not_ Jake. I guess I should've specified when I said guy friend."

My dad looked confused, an emotion he rarely conveyed. His forehead crinkled as he tried to interpret everything. "You mean to say that your boyfriend isn't Jacob Black? Then who?"

I cleared my throat to speak. "His name is Roman, and I have a couple of classes with him at school. He's really, really nice – and good looking, too! Sorry dad, I know you probably didn't want to hear that last part."

"That makes two of us," Jake snidely commented.

I shot him 'the look', yet again. "Can it, Jake. I'm allowed to date whoever I want. You'll get over it."

"This Roman character, he's a good kid?" my mother asked me.

"Yes, he's wonderful, mom! He opens doors for me, walks me to class, sits with us at lunch, rescues me from Jake; the whole works!" So maybe I added on that last part to piss Jake off, but he deserved it after how he'd been acting since we got home.

"Not to mention he's usually late for all of his classes, has a bad influence on her, and condones skipping class," he shot back revengefully at me.

"That is _not _true! He was only late for class once, he's got no sort of a bad influence on me at all, and it was my decision to skip class." Crap. Did Jake just trick me into telling my parents that I skipped? Was that why he was so quiet after we'd finished talking on the way home…he was thinking of a plan to get me in trouble? How rude.

"You skipped class? Nessie, what has gotten into you?" my mom questioned me.

I thought quickly to come up with an excuse for ditching 'one' class.

"…I wasn't feeling well. I was heading to the nurse when Roman saw me from his class and followed after me. I didn't quite make it to the nurse. He really was quite the gentleman about it, though."

"Skipping can be healthy every now and again," my father reminded my mom like he'd done so many years ago.

"I guess you're right," she said, reminiscing with him. "Your father and I would like to meet him. You should invite him over tomorrow to hang out or watch a movie or something. After dinner preferably, so we don't have to put on _that_ charade for him."

"Tomorrow. Okay. Sure. Tomorrow I'll ask him if he'd like to come over," I stuttered.

"Maybe you should call him now, Renesmee. It's impolite to give less than 24 hours notice," my father reminded me.

"Sure. I'll just…go get the phone, and give him a ring." I walked off to the kitchen to use the antiquated phone hanging on the wall. I could hear my mom and Alice planning on doing a little 'spicing up' to the place for Roman tomorrow. I seriously hoped they didn't over do it.

"Yes, hello. May I please speak with Roman?" I asked.

The woman on the other end asked, "Who's calling please?"

"Oh, this is Renesmee from school," I politely replied.

"Sure, hold on just a second dear," she said to me. I heard her muffle the phone in her hand and heard her faintly call 'Roman, phone' before he quickly picked up the line from somewhere else in the house.

"Got it, mom. Thanks," he said to her. We both waited until she hung up the phone before beginning our conversation.

"Hey, Roman," I greeted him. "How're you?"

"I'm doing fine, Nessie! How are you…are you and Jake going to be okay?"

"Oh, yeah. We'll work through it," I reassured him. "But hey, I told my parents about you, and they kind of want to meet you…"

"That's great! I'm proud of you, and I'd love to meet your family."

"They kind of wanted to meet you sooner rather than later, if that would be alright?"

I could practically see his face wrinkle up on the other end of the line in confusion. "When exactly _is_ sooner?"

"Tomorrow night," I said hoping that he wouldn't object. The last thing I wanted to go through was telling my parents that he didn't want to meet them tomorrow. That would definitely deduct from his brownie points.

"Wow. Tomorrow, okay. That should be fine…I'll double check with my mom, and let you know for certain tomorrow."

"Okay, if she's fine with it…then I'll see you tomorrow at school, and then hopefully around 7:30," I said hoping that would be after the appropriate dinner time. I wasn't _too_ familiar with human feeding customs.

"I'm sure she'll be fine with it," he told me. "Hey Nessie?"

"Yeah?"

"I can't wait to see you tomorrow."

I smiled, "Me either, Roman."

I hung the phone up and walked back into the living room to see Alice flitting around dusting things that really didn't need it.

"Please don't overdo this," I said glaring at Alice specifically, because I knew her tendencies.

"Since when is dusting overdoing things? I've heard that some humans can be allergic to dust, and I'd hate to have your boyfriend sneezing and coughing the whole time he's over here," she smiled at me. "Honestly, Nessie. Whose side are you on here?"

"That isn't what I meant, Aunt Alice. Dusting is perfectly fine, even though everything is dust free anyways. I was more or less referring to everything you have planned to do while I'm asleep and at school tomorrow."

"Oh," she said sadly. "I guess…if you really didn't want me to help you at all, then I could just sit and do nothing like I usually do…"

Darn Alice and her stupid guilt trips. "Ugh," I sighed. "It's not that I don't want you to help, but you have this odd trend of overdoing things. And I just don't want you to do that this time. Roman is special to me, and I want him to feel comfortable here. So as long as what you do would make him feel comfortable, and I mean strictly things that would make _him_ feel comfortable, I suppose you can have your way."

"Yes! Thanks, Nessie! I won't let you down," she beamed and scurried off to someplace else in the house.

"I appreciate you letting your Aunt Alice help," my father thanked me. "She does get awfully bored around here sometimes."

"I know," I sighed. "Dad, I'm leaving it up to you to keep tabs on her while I'm at school. You know me pretty well, and I want you to, um, keep her in line for me. Okay?"

"Aye, aye captain," he laughed at me, tacking a salute on to the end.

I rolled my eyes. "Anyway," I said. "It's getting kind of late, and I have school tomorrow. So I'm going to hit the hay."

"Okay, sweetie. Sleep well," my mother said softly to me.

My parents both gave me hugs and a kiss on the forehead before I made my way upstairs to my father's old room in the Cullen house. I didn't feel like walking through the forest to our own homey cottage, so I pulled out a spare set of pajamas my parents had kept here for me, pulled them on and made my way to the bed.

I'd had a mentally and emotionally exhausting day, so it didn't take long for sleep to overcome me. Sometime after I'd fallen asleep, I felt like someone else was near me, but I couldn't be sure. And I was too lazy to open my eyes to see for myself. I doubted anyone could sneak past a house full of gifted vampires just to make their way to harm me, so I let it be.

I woke up a little bit earlier in the morning, so I laid in bed for a while longer. I vaguely remembered that I'd thought someone was here with me last night, so I sniffed the air hoping my enhanced sense of smell could help me figure out who it was.

I recognized three distinct smells in the air almost immediately; my mother, father and Jake. I sat up pondering why they'd all visited me while I slept. Determined to figure out more, I took a hurried shower, dressed and went downstairs.

I was ecstatic to find that Alice hadn't gone haywire, yet. I glanced over the bottom floor searching for my parents. They were sitting in the living room watching television.

"Morning," I yawned at them.

"Good morning, Renesmee," my father greeted me. "Did you sleep well?"

"You both should know…you were, after all, in my room last night, weren't you?" I questioned them.

"Then yes, you did sleep well," my mom replied.

"So why were you watching me sleep?"

"Well, we weren't exactly watching you sleep. We were watching your dreams," my father told me.

"You were doing _what_?" I said crossly. "Those are my dreams!"

"We used to do it all the time when you were little," my mother said in her sweet voice, trying to calm me.

"That was when I was little! I'm not a little girl anymore!" I groaned. "Can I not get _any_ privacy around here?"

"Actually, Nessie, you're only six. Still very much a little girl," my father reminded me. "And if it comforts you further, you didn't dream of anything that you wouldn't want us to see," he added. "It was mostly just about school, Roman, Jake, and the horrible things you think Alice will do to this place when you're gone today."

"How do you know it wasn't anything that I didn't want you to see?"

"Well, no one was shedding their clothes, if that's what you mean," Jake added as he trudged into the room.

"You too? Ugh," I fumed. I tried to calm myself before speaking again. "In the future, please let me know if you plan to eavesdrop on my dreams so that I can prepare myself, okay?"

"Sure, sure," Jake said. My parents both nodded in agreement.

"I'm going to go to school now. Maybe people there won't eavesdrop on me when I can defend myself. Jake, if you want to ride with me, I'm literally leaving now. Otherwise, I'll see you in class," I said.

"I need to eat breakfast, so I'll meet you there," he said to me.

I was thankful. I didn't know if he would still be acting as awkward as yesterday, and I didn't really want to try it out.

I grabbed my backpack and got into my truck. I tried to crank it, but the engine just kept turning over. "Great," I mumbled.

I walked back inside hoping to find Rose. "Is Rosalie around here somewhere?" I asked my parents.

"No, she's out hunting," my father told me.

"Oh. Well my truck won't crank. I was going to ask Rose to take a quick look at it, but she isn't here. So can I just take the Volvo today? I'd really like to get to school early." I really hoped they would let me – not because I enjoyed driving a grandma car, but more or less because I didn't have the desire to ride with Jake.

"Sure thing, honey," my mom said as she tossed the keys to me. "Be careful with it!"

"No worries, mom. Thanks," I said as I walked into the massive garage. I noticed that there was an extra car at the very end, veiled by a tarp. 'Hmm,' I thought to myself.

"Don't even think about it," my father shouted from inside.

Apparently, they'd already gotten me my car for after graduation. Reluctantly, I got into the Volvo and backed out of the garage. I got to the school after a few minutes, parked, and headed for the library. I had a bit of Spanish homework to finish up before class started.

I was just about finished when I felt another body plop down on the couch I was sitting at. I looked up to see Roman smiling at me.

"'Morning, Nessie," he said to me.

"Hey boo," I said to him.

He looked at me weirdly. "Boo?"

"Yeah," I laughed. "I honestly just wanted to see what it would feel like to call someone boo. I've never been able to before, so I thought I'd give it a go."

"And what do you think of it now that you've said it?" he asked me.

"Honestly, it wasn't as much fun as I'd imagined. Oh well…I guess I could just call you Roman or something like that."

"Works for me, boo," he said laughing. "Yeah, you're right. It wasn't what I thought it would be, either."

We both laughed before the librarian coughed rather loudly. "Children, class will be starting in a couple of minutes. You two should hurry along so you won't be late."

"Oh, right," I said closing my books.

"Would you mind if I walked you to class?" Roman asked me.

"No, not at all," I smiled as we began walking.

I made sure my left hand was free so that he could grab it if he wanted to. I'm glad we were both thinking on the same page. He timidly reached down to my hand and intertwined his fingers with mine. For a guy, his hands were incredibly soft. His hand was so big that it completely engulfed mine, which I was more than okay with.

"Wow, Nessie," he sighed. "You're hot!"

"Oh, um…thanks?" I said questioningly.

He blushed a little. "Not like that! Not to say that you aren't hot, because you _are_ stunningly beautiful. What I meant was that your skin is hot," he clarified.

I'd hoped he wouldn't notice, but I guess that was a long shot after all. "Maybe you're just really cold? I feel absolutely fine, Roman. Better than fine, actually," I rambled. "And thank you, for calling me beautiful," I smiled up at him.

He laughed. "Welcome, Ness." We'd arrived at Señora Gómez's classroom, and I regretfully had to let his comforting hand go.

"I guess I'll see you next period," I said to him as I walked in to take my seat next to Jake.

He looked utterly disgusted. "What?" I asked him.

"_See you next period_," he said in a high pitched girly voice mocking to me.

"Knock it off, Jake. Don't be jealous. You asked Abby out, didn't you? That means you forfeit any rights to mock or judge me."

"Hey," he said. "How'd you know about that?"

"We _are_ in high school, Jake. Word travels fast around this place. Especially about the new guy in town, aka you."

"Darn it," he cursed. "I was hoping to tease you about it more," he frowned.

"Sorry to ruin your fun," I whispered as class began.

We were learning about the subjunctive tense today, something rather boring. I doodled on my paper aimlessly for the majority of the class. When I finally snapped out of it at the end, I noticed that my paper was covered in little hearts with 'R.C. & R.M.' written inside of them. Did I seriously just do that? Wow.

I sighed thankfully at the sound of the bell. "See you in English, Jacob," I said before darting out to get to Biology. Before I could make my way into the hall, I collided with something causing me to fall backwards. I looked up to see Roman standing there waiting for me.

"Geez, that's two for two. You've got to quit knocking the breath out of me," I said to him.

"Sorry, I can't help it if I'm _that_ breathtaking," he smiled at me offering me a hand to get up.

"Thanks," I said dusting myself off. He grabbed my hand again, and we walked to biology.

Class passed by much too fast with him sitting there next to me, and I was already wishing that it was time for lunch so that I could be near him again.

The bell rang, and we made our way out into the hall. "I've got gym now, and your class is way off in the opposite direction," I said. "Why don't I just meet you at lunch?"

"Sure," he replied. "See you then!"

Any class that I didn't have with Roman took twice as long to pass. Jake was being such a guy in gym today as we played tennis. I think he was literally aiming for me, but I managed to walk away unscathed. Actually, I managed to hit him a couple of times, but he healed too fast for anyone to notice.

'Yes,' I said to myself. 'Lunch time!'

We sat by ourselves today, because Jake went off to sit with Abby and her groupies. We chatted about classes and whatnot. "Oh," he said. "I almost forgot to tell you- my mom said I can come over tonight!"

"That's great, Roman! My family will love you!" I beamed.

"I sure hope so," he said looking down.

"There's nothing _not_ to like, so they really don't have a choice in the matter," I reassured him.

The bell rang, and we were off on our way to calculus with Jake tagging along behind us, hand in hand with Abby. I heard him say goodbye to her as he left her at her classroom catching up to us.

"Hey guys," he said.

"Are you going to behave, Jake?" I asked him.

"Yes Nessie. I'll behave," he promised.

I quickly looked behind his back to make sure his fingers weren't crossed or something infantile like that.

"Okay," I said skeptically.

"So, Roman…looking forward to meetin' the fam tonight?"

"Yeah, actually. I'm pretty excited about it!" he replied.

"Well good luck with that," Jake said hoping Roman would bite.

I rolled my eyes. Roman bit. "Why would I need luck?" he asked.

"You won't need luck," I interceded. I shot Jake a look that normal people would be afraid of. He just snickered.

"Yeah, no. You won't need luck or anything," he said trying to twist my words.

We walked into class as the bell rang.

"Crap," Jake shouted. "I'm going to be late for biology," he said darting off past us.

"I'll be sure to let Abby's parents know you're late!" I yelled after him.

Yet again, Roman's presence made class shoot by faster than humanly possible. He walked me swiftly to history where Jake was already waiting inside.

"I'll see you after school, Ness," he said giving my hand a tight squeeze before letting it go.

"See you," I said to him as he made his way to class.

Jake was sitting in his desk nervously tapping his foot. He glanced up at me as I entered the class. "You're not really going to tell Abby's mom I was late, are you?"

I laughed. "No, Jake. That would require me being friends with her."

"Good," he said. "I don't want them to get the wrong idea about me."

"Whatever, Jake."

Thankfully, history went by fast also. I didn't really pay attention, but I already knew the material well because I had family that had lived through it.

I practically ran out into the parking lot to see Roman leaning against his Honda. "Where's Old Red?" he asked me as I slowed my pace.

"Oh. My truck wouldn't crank this morning, so my parents lent me their Volvo," I said gesturing to the silver menace parked a few spaces away.

He laughed. "Nice!"

"It's horrible," I groaned. "I highly prefer my truck to that grandma car. But, on the plus side, I did see that my parents bought me my car for when I graduate. They had a tarp covering it though, so I couldn't see what it was."

"Man, I wish my parents would buy _me_ a new car!" he groaned.

"Sorry," I said. "I should be getting home though. I should probably get my homework done before you come over."

"Yeah, you're probably right," he agreed. "See you tonight, Nessie," he smiled down at me.

"See you then."

I was about to walk away to my car, but he held me where I was. He looked down at me and lightly kissed my forehead sending my heart into a whole new rhythm. I gave him a hug before I walked off to the Volvo with a smile plastered across my face.

I parked my parent's Volvo back into the garage and tiptoed over to the tarp hoping to sneak a peek under it.

A voice started talking from nowhere "Please step a-way from the vehicle. Please step a-way from the vehicle," a woman's robotic voice said.

Crap. Had they really rigged it so I couldn't look? I guess they knew me too well. I stalked off into the house to find my father grinning at me.

"Not 'til graduation, dear," he reminded me.

"I know, I know," I said. "What's that _smell_?" I asked him.

"Your Aunt Alice got some air fresheners for the house. I know they don't smell pleasant to us, but apparently, humans like them. It would _comfort_ Roman," he said reminding me of my agreement with Alice.

"Right," I said. "Comfort Roman. Anyway, dad, I'm going to get my homework done so that I don't have to worry about it later."

"Alright, let me know if you need any help."

I decided to do my homework upstairs in Grandpa Carlisle's study. He was at work, and it was a quiet, relaxing place. I worked for about two hours trying to design an outline for my English paper due next week. I'd finished all of my other homework, but I didn't feel like struggling with my paper anymore, so I went to change into the outfit Alice had picked for me. After that, I went back downstairs to spend some quality time with my family before Roman came over.

I walked over to the piano and started aimlessly playing. I didn't know much, but enough to get through a couple of songs. I started playing the chorus to "Heart and Soul" when my mother came and sat beside me on the bench. She picked up the other part and we played together for a while.

The doorbell interrupted our playing. "Is it 7:30 already?" I asked.

"No," my mother said. "He's just early."

"Oh, okay." I got up from the piano, smoothed out my outfit and walked to get the door.

Roman had also changed into nicer, more casual clothes.

"Roman!" I squealed. "Come in!"

He came in, and my father gestured for his coat to hang on the nearby rack. Roman shrugged it off and handed it to my dad.

"Roman," I said. "This is my family." They had all gathered around in the time it took my father to get Roman's coat. I gestured to each of my family members introducing them to one another.

"It's nice to meet you all," he said. "You have a really nice house!"

"Thank you," Carlisle responded. "We can always be ourselves here."

It wasn't a very eventful evening. Roman was too scared to hold my hand with my parents so near, which I understood.

Jacob had made himself invisible, which I was thankful for. We played cards with some of my family for a while before Roman and I settled on watching a movie. I let him pick.

He chose some car movie. I could care less. I was just happy to be with him.

My family had finally given us a little privacy, but I knew they'd reappear at any given moment if they heard anything bad going on in Roman's head.

"So," Roman began. "There's this party on Sunday. It's for the senior class, and I'm asking you to be my date."

"Oh," I said. "Well, I'd love to. But I need to ask my parents."

"Okay."

"I'll ask them tonight after you leave, and I'll call you tomorrow and let you know."

"Alright," he said.

My parents didn't come bombarding back into the room, so I had to assume his offer was innocent enough.

"It's getting pretty late," he said yawning. "I should probably be getting home. I told my mom I'd be back by 10, and it's almost 9:45 now…" he trailed off.

"Okay," I said standing up. "Well, I'll talk to you tomorrow. Thanks for coming over, Roman. My parents like you, I can tell," I smiled at him.

"You bet ya. You get to meet mine next," he beamed at me.

I laughed. "Sure." He kissed me on my forehead again. I wanted to return the favor, so I stood on my tippy toes and placed an innocent kiss on his cheek. I could hear his heart beat quicken from what I'd done.

"See you later, Nessie," he said as he walked out.

"Bye," I waved at him as he drove away from the house.

"Mom, Dad," I yelled. They were already standing behind me when I turned around to go find them.

"Absolutely not," my father said. "You're much too young to go to parties, Renesmee."

"But dad," I groaned. "It's for the senior class! I'm a senior. I'll be the odd man out if I'm not there!"

My mother came to my rescue. "I agree with our daughter, Edward. She needs to have her high school experience, senior parties included."

My parents had a staring contest. "We'll discuss this tonight and let you know tomorrow, Nessie," he said to me, though he didn't break his eye contact with my mother.

"You should go to bed, sweetie," my mother said to me in her sweet voice. "You've had a long day, and I'll want you to be well rested for the party on Sunday."

Apparently, my mother was confident that she could manipulate my father into letting me go.

"Night guys," I yawned as I gave them a kiss goodnight.

"See you in the morning," my father said.

**Review!!! Let me know what you guys are thinking about everything/anything!!! **↓  
**Hopefully updating soon!  
~sw1m4l1fe**


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's Note:  
Sadly, I do not own Twilight…or these characters (except Roman) :[ The amazing Stephenie Meyer does.  
Music: Offspring, Thriving Ivory**

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed! And for lea- I honestly didn't think about Roman realizing Nessie's parents were young or cold… My fault =\**

**Also, thanks to my wonderful beta/comma nazi superdupersk8r61**

**FYI- The next chapter is the "party chapter" &+ I'm going to change the rating of this story to T because there will be underage drinking. With that said, enjoy!**

--Apparently, my mother was confident that she could manipulate my father into letting me go.  
"Night guys," I yawned as I gave them a kiss goodnight.  
"See you in the morning," my father said.--

**Bella's POV**

I had just sent my daughter to bed for the evening. Now all I had to do was convince Edward that Renesmee should go to the party.

"Edward," I started.

"No," he said sternly. "She is _our_ daughter, and _we_ have to make _joint_ decisions about what she can and cannot do. And I'm sorry, but six years old is a little bit _too_ young to be partying."

He had carefully emphasized words pertaining to us as a family.

"I know, Edward. But you've never been in her position before," I tried to explain.

"And you have?" he questioned me.

"Well, not exactly. But very similar. Growing up in Phoenix, I was always the loner that sat by myself, which is what I preferred, so I'm not trying to throw myself a pity party. You, however, never exactly had the same problem. People knew you existed, they liked you, they admired you."

"And…?"

"And our daughter does not want to be a loner, like me. She wants for people to like her and admire her. Please, Edward," I begged. "I know you want to protect her, but she needs to be a teenager."

"But she's _not_ a teenager, Bella. She's _six_."

"And you're 121, and I'm 22, and Carlisle is several hundred years old. To us, age is not as important. If you don't let Nessie go to this party, she won't forgive you for quite a while."

I guess that got to him.

"Fine," he caved.

"She'll be thrilled, Edward," I smiled at him.

He wasn't finished. "But, Jacob is going with her. I don't know if I can trust Roman's thoughts. They seemed entirely too innocent for a teenage, hormonal boy."

"That shouldn't be a problem. Jake did, after all, imprint on her," I said.

"Yes, he did. But he's also dating someone else, Bella."

That shocked me a little. "Well. That's new. His choice, I guess. Even so, he was probably planning on going to this party with his girlfriend."

Edward stalked over to the piano to play. He knew I was right. Instead of staying to gloat and listen to him play, I decided I would go to find Jake and see what was going on.

I didn't have to look far, only into the kitchen. Jake had the fridge open, halfway leaning on it, no doubt trying to find something to stuff his face with. At least the food around here hardly went to waste anymore.

"Hey Jake," I said.

He jumped into the air sending the door to the fridge abruptly back to its closed position. "Geez, Bells. You've got to give a guy some warning before you spring up in a room. I can't hear you walk anymore."

"Oh," I said. "My fault. Would you like for me to leave and come back? Or since I've already scared you, is it alright if I stay?"

He sighed. "Stay. There is no point in you leaving and coming back."

"Oops. Too late," I laughed. "I already left and came back."

He sighed again, louder this time. "Darn vampire skills. Anyway, what's up?"

"Oh, you know. Edward's playing the piano, Nessie is sleeping, you're dating someone else whose name doesn't start with an 'R' and end with 'enesmee'," I said nonchalantly mixing in the point of my conversation. "What's going on with you Jake? Last time I checked, you were still imprinted on my daughter, yet here you are dating some other girl."

"Yes, I am. And in case you didn't notice, that kid that was here earlier…yeah…he was your daughter's boyfriend. Not a boyfriend that imprinted on her, either," he shot at me.

Obviously, he was pretty upset about the whole ordeal. I didn't know what to make of it, though. And I was still more than completely and utterly dumbfounded by the predicament.

"I know," I sighed as I walked over to him and placed my cool hand on his shoulder to comfort him. "But Jake, just because she's trying new things doesn't mean she doesn't have feelings for you. What I don't understand is how you're dating someone else…isn't imprinting kind of, well, permanent?"

"Yeah, it is pretty permanent," he agreed. "Look, Bella, I don't really like Abby that much. She's nice to me, and she is someone _outside_ of the Cullen family that I can talk to. Truth be told, I only started dating her because I was jealous."

"Jealous?" I questioned.

"Mmhmm," he murmured. "The way Nessie looked at Roman. The way she looked at him like she wanted to be with _him…_ it just set something off in me. I wanted her to feel that for me, but I knew she didn't. So I went to someone that did. I found Abby, and I kissed her."

I was suddenly very thankful for the extra capacity my mind could hold. This was definitely a lot to take in. My daughter got jealous of this girl, Abby, which is essentially what made her want to be with Roman. Then Jake saw Nessie kissing Roman, so he went and kissed Abby.

"Oh boy," was all I could get out.

"Huh?"

"Apparently, both you and my daughter were missing a bit of what was happening." I explained to him everything that I'd just thought.

When I was finished, he only slumped further down in the chair he'd moved to.

"Wow. I guess I've messed things up a bit, haven't I?" he surmised.

"It takes two. Neither of you really meant for any of this to happen…" I trailed off.

"I don't know what to do, Bells," he said to me with pleading eyes.

"I'm out of that part, Jake. This is between you kids." I only hoped that he would fix things. "The reason for me coming to talk to you in the first place may give you an opportunity to patch things up."

"What is it?"

"Nessie asked me and Edward if she could go to a party tomorrow with Roman. It's for the seniors, and she really wants to go. But, Edward won't let her go unless you go as well. I thought you may be going any way with Abby…but I had to check."

"Oh, I'll be there. Definitely not missing out on a party for seniors. I really hope I can talk to Nessie sometime then…try and set things straight…"

"Great!" I exclaimed. "And I'm sure you'll be able to talk to her. After all, there aren't too many seniors that go to Forks High."

"Very true. Thanks, Bells," he said to me.

"Anytime, Jake," I smiled at him. "Do you want me to make you something to eat?"

He laughed. "Thanks, but I'd rather not throw up while trying to eat. You smell pretty bad now a days."

"You're not a bouquet of roses, either," I argued. "I'll just leave you to your nasty eating habits, then. Sleep well."

"You t--…I mean…Have a good night, Bella."

"Thanks."

I went back to Edward who was still playing the piano. Even though I knew he'd heard our whole conversation, I told him anyways. "Jake's going. So Nessie will be going too."

"Very well," he groaned. "Care to join me?"

"Sure," I said. I took a seat next to him on the small piano bench. Edward had taught me how to play a little, though I was nowhere near as good as him. I delicately placed my fingers on the piano and began stumbling through the lullaby that Edward had composed for our daughter.

***

**Nessie's POV**

I woke up to find Alice perched at the end of my bed staring intently at me.

"Um…morning?" I said, confused.

"I was wondering if you would ever wake up! It becomes bothersome just sitting here staring at you, Nessie."

"Oh, uh. Sorry to cause you so much trouble, Aunt Alice. But you do know you didn't have to be here staring at me when I woke up, right? Because you didn't," I said to her.

"I know I didn't _have_ to," she said. "But I wanted dibs on you, and I figured that this was the best way to get what I wanted…so that no one else could steal you away before me."

"It's still kind of early…do you think you could make your point before I lose my track of thought?"

"Of course! How rude of me. You see, I heard that you're going to a party tonight, and I wanted to help you pick out the perfect outfit," she smiled at me eagerly.

"Party? OH! Party!!!" I said ecstatically. I jumped up from my bed and bounded downstairs. "Daddy! You're going to let me go?!? Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

I found my dad and practically jumped into his arms.

"Yes, sweetie. You can go, but Jacob is going as well. That is my stipulation, and the only way that you will get to that party," he said strictly.

"Fine by me!" I let my dad go and moved on to my mother. I was sure that my mom had to do some manipulating to get my dad to let me go.

"Thank you so much, Mom! I owe you."

She looked me in the eyes. "Yes, you do. You have to give Jake a chance to talk to you tonight, okay? Then you won't 'owe' me anymore."

"Um, sure thing," I agreed.

Alice stood at the top of the stairs tapping her foot impatiently, no doubt waiting for me.

I looked desperately at my parents, but it was evident that they weren't going to help me out on this one.

"You asked for it, kid," Emmett said as he walked into the room.

I sighed and drug my feet up the stairs. "See you all after dinner, if I'm lucky."

"It's not going to be _that_ bad, Nessie. We're only _picking out_ your outfit today. The party isn't until tomorrow, so clearly I can't fix your hair and makeup until then."

I groaned in despair.

Alice went overboard, and she didn't even go shopping. She had compiled a wardrobe of possibilities for me out of all of the girl's clothes in the house.

I tried on outfit after outfit for what seemed like days. Finally, after a couple of hours, Alice had settled on the perfect match for me. It was tolerable. The only think I'd requested was to be able to wear my converse with whatever she picked. She didn't like that very much, but since it was the only thing I wanted, she let me have my way.

"Now," she said. "You can't let anyone see my creation before tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay," I groaned. She zipped my outfit up in a garment bag, an unnecessary precaution, and hung it in the closet.

"Am I free now?" I asked.

"I suppose so," she said. "I don't guess you _have_ to stay here for me to pick out the right make up and hairdo for you."

"Great!" Almost like a repeat of when I woke up, I flew from the room and went downstairs.

"You survived!" Jake said staring at me as I made my way to the kitchen.

I sat at the bar and laid my head down on the hard marble countertop. "Barely," I mumbled. "Oh," I said sitting up. "I have to call Roman!"

Jake sighed and left the room.

I picked up the phone and dialed the number that I already had memorized. Roman answered the phone after the first ring.

"Hello?"

"Hey Roman! It's Nessie," I said to him.

"Hey. How're you?" he asked me.

"I'm doing well, thanks. I just got done being dressed up like a Barbie doll by my Aunt Alice."

"Dressed up?" he questioned.

"Yeah. My parents said I could go to the party, but…" I didn't get to finish my sentence.

"Awesome! We're going to have so much fun, Nessie! This party is supposedly the party of the year, and I get to go with you!"

"Yes, you get to go with me. But you also didn't let me finish my sentence."

"Oh, sorry," he said apologetically. You were saying…?"

"I can come to the party, but Jake has to be there too. And I have to talk to him, whatever that means. I think he was going with Abby anyway, so it's not that big of a deal."

"I know Abby is coming, so Jake probably was planning on coming anyway. That's fine. Are you riding with him here?"

"I suppose I could…but I'd rather get to the party with my boyfriend, if you don't mind," I said as sweetly as I could.

"I definitely don't mind! The party doesn't start 'til 9, so how bout I pick you up then and we can be casually late together?"

"Sounds great," I exclaimed. "See you then."

"See you tomorrow," he said before hanging up.

I don't know why, but I'd always wait to hear him hang up before I did. Maybe it was just a girl thing.

The rest of my day passed inconsequentially. I lounged some, watched television, and even got started on a history paper I had due the next week. Even so, the minutes on the clock seemed to tick by at an extremely leisurely pace.

I decided to go to bed early for a couple of reasons. One being that I'd exhausted everything to do. The other being that I was too eager for the next day to come. I was _so_ excited for the party!

I kissed my parents goodnight, and went upstairs to sleep in their old room, yet again. Sleep overcame me faster than I thought possible, but I was thankful.

When I woke up the next morning, instead of getting up, I rolled over and tried to force myself to sleep further. I knew that the more I slept, the later it would get in the day. And the later it got in the day meant the closer it was to party time. I did manage to nap on and off for another hour, or so.

It was barely 11:30 when I got up. To delay my day further, I took a pretty long shower. I let the heat of the water pound on my back thoroughly working out the knots that had formed from stress. Reluctantly, I got out of the shower and dried off. I shrugged one of my mom's old sweaters on and pulled a pair of shorts on. I looked at the clock. 12:00 p.m. 'Ugh', I thought to myself. 'Nine more hours'.

I worked on my history paper even more. Luckily, when I was working on it, I didn't notice the time much. I was relieved to see that it was 1:30 when Alice came dancing into Carlisle's study where I had been working.

"Time to start getting you ready, missy," she said to me.

"Not yet, Aunt Alice," I said. "I want to go and hunt before we start. I want to be prepared for tonight."

"Fine," she sighed. "I'm coming with you though."

"Oh, you don't have to. It's alright."

"No," she said sternly. "I'm coming. That way when we get back I can make sure that no one else tries to steal you away from me."

"Oh," I said sadly. "I feel used."

"You shouldn't. But we should get going. It's going to take me a while to detangle that hair of yours."

We went downstairs and out the back door, making our way into the woods.

I let my instincts take over temporarily as I stalked down a large deer. My asunt found a mountain lion and finished her meal rather quickly. I, however, took my time. I pretended to be picky as I darted around the treetops. Honestly, I just wanted to kill more time. I finally caught sight on a hefty looking elk that would suffice quite nicely. I pounced and drained the animal.

Unenthused, I turned around and began heading back to the house…and the makeup.

"C'mon Nessie," Alice begged. "We're running late now!"

I groaned before picking up my pace. We got back to the house too fast for my liking, but I figured that I could deal.

Aunt Alice dragged me upstairs to her bathroom with huge vanity mirrors in them. I gasped at the sight of the countertops. Every square inch was covered in makeup, hair products or accessories.

She put her hands on my shoulders and forced me into the chair.

"Aunt Alice," I cautioned. "This is _not_ the prom or anything. Just a party for seniors. Do _not_ make me look like a drag queen, or so help me God, you will never touch my face again."

"Yes ma'am," she agreed, saluting me with her right hand.

"Very funny," I said.

After she finished tugging through my hair, I fell asleep. I didn't know how I could possibly be tired after all of the sleep I'd gotten, but it made things much easier for me and Alice when I was unconscious.

When I woke up, Alice was just finishing up.

I looked into the mirror and let out a little gasp.

"Crap," she said. "I didn't think I overdid it. Go back to sleep…I'll take it all off and start over."

"No you won't," I said. "I love it!" I turned my head from side to side and tilted it up and down trying to get the full effect of myself. She had pulled my hair into a messy bun and gelled some of the ends it to make them stick out. She also put a thin, hot pink headband on me that would match my shoes.

My makeup was very subtle. She'd put a little bit of light colored blush on my cheekbones and gave me 'smoky eyes'. It would go great with the perfect outfit she picked out the previous day.

"Thank you _so_ much, Alice. I give you full permission to touch my face in the future!"

"Yay," she squeaked. "I'm glad you like it, Nessie. And I'm _really_ glad that I get to touch your face again!"

"Time check?" I asked her.

"It's 5:30."

I sighed. "I guess…I'll just sit here and read for another three hours."

"Great! Then you won't have a chance to mess up your hair or makeup. I'll just go grab you an array of magazines and books."

She flitted away and was back in record time with the latest gossipy magazines and a couple of books.

I placed my feet on her countertop and began flipping through the pages of the magazines aimlessly. This was not going to work.

"Actually, this is pretty boring, Aunt Alice. Can I go downstairs and play video games? I won't do anything hard core, I promise," I begged.

"I suppose so," she said.

"Sweet!" I said jumping up. I went downstairs and joined in the fun. Emmett and Jasper were playing Need for Speed when I walked in.

"I'm playing the winner."

They both turned as I walked into the room and their mouths fell open. "Relax guys. It's just makeup. My face won't be this hideous all the time," I laughed.

Rather than saying anything, they just casually nodded and returned to their game. Time definitely passed much faster with the guys. It was 8:30 in no time, and Alice was tugging on my sweatshirt to go and get dressed.

I went upstairs and unzipped the bag she had put my clothes in. I put them on in layers. Alice knew it was going to be a chilly night, so she made sure I would be prepared. I pulled on a pair of black leggings, followed by a slim, form-fitting, sleeveless black dress. The bottom of the dress came to my mid-thigh and the leggings rested comfortably on my shins. I then carefully pulled on the shirt she'd chosen. It was a loose fitting, bright blue, three-quartered sleeve shirt that was designed to hang more on one shoulder than the other. It left my right shoulder exposed. I slipped on my chucks and looked at myself in the mirror.

I was extremely grateful for Alice. I looked like I had just walked out of one of the magazines I was flipping through earlier.

I grabbed the white coat draped over the railing at the top of the staircase before making my way downstairs.

**I really liked writing this chapter! Review &+ let me know what you guys think…next chapter is party chapter! (= Woot woot!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's note:  
I don't own Twilight or any of the characters (except Roman, Abby & Jenna). Stephenie Meyer is the mastermind behind it all.**

**Music: The Offspring, Random rap...party stuff ;)**

**Also, I'm giving you a heads up... This story is not going where I originally planned. After a couple more chapters, I'm going to fast forward through the rest of Nessie's school year to graduation. I'm sorry if this upsets any of my fantabulous readers, but I'd like to continue with what I originally planned.**

**This chapter is dedicated to: the ahhhhmaaaazinnnnnggg superdupersk8r61 for being the best beta ever! (Especially for her 'Never have I ever' help, lol).**

**BTW- Please note: this chapter has underage drinking, sexual references & language in it. If this offends you, don't read. *Gasp* I can't believe I just said that!  
**

--I grabbed the white coat draped over the railing at the top of the staircase before making my way downstairs.--

**Nessie's POV**

At the bottom of the staircase, I found my parents waiting next to Roman, who had conveniently arrived up early. His mouth dropped open making a little 'o' shape when I came into sight making my cheeks flush in embarrassment.

I saw my father roll his eyes, no doubt at Roman's thoughts.

"You look…amazing, Nessie," Roman said to me.

"You look pretty okay, yourself," I surmised. He had on a sleek, black, button down shirt and a pair of pre-tattered jeans.

"So, do I look fit to party? Alice helped me with the outfit because I've never really been to a party before…" I trailed off. I knew Alice wouldn't dress me inappropriately, but I was curious to see my boyfriend's reaction.

"_Definitely_ fit to party," he smirked as he looked me up and down.

My father conveniently stepped in front of him, blocking his view of me. He put his hands on my shoulders and looked me straight in the eyes.

"Renesmee Carlie Cullen," he started. "You had better be very careful tonight. You know I don't like the idea of you going to this party, and I'm putting a significant amount of trust in you…_and_ in Roman," he finished by glaring at Roman standing innocently behind him.

"Oh. Don't you worry, sir. I'll take extra good care of your daughter. She'll be safe," he promised my father.

My mom tried to lighten the mood as she shoved us out the door. "You kids have fun! See you later," she shouted at us as we made our way to Roman's car.

I could barely hear her talking to my dad behind us. I was hoping she was giving him a lecture of his own. After pulling that kind of crap on my innocent boyfriend, I thought he needed a stern talking to.

Roman politely opened the door and waited for me to sink in before he lightly closed it and made his way around to the driver's side.

He looked over at me. "You really do look astounding tonight, Ness." He leaned over and kissed my cheek before starting up his Honda. He sped down the driveway and we made our way to the party.

We arrived a little past nine, and the party was already well into motion. Roman held my hand as we walked up the steps and into the house (I had no idea whose house it was). There was a locked box labeled 'keys' which I assumed was for everyone drinking. We were greeted by an assault of music, strobe lights and friends from school. Some of them were already well past drunk.

I noticed Mike Newton draping himself over some poor innocent bystander. And Eric was behind the turn table trying to mix, but failing semi-miserably. Who was I to judge? After all, this was my first party.

"Do you want a drink?" Roman asked me.

"Oh..sure. Thanks," I said politely as he walked away leaving me defenseless. I looked around trying to see if I wanted to stay put and wait for him, or if I wanted to mingle with my peers.

I decided to mingle. I walked into what I assumed was the living room and spotted Jenna. I walked over to her and starting talking about a movie that had just been released. She held a plastic red cup in her hand and sipped from it every now and again while we talked. Roman found me and handed me my drink, but I noticed he didn't have one.

"Aren't you drinking?" I asked him.

"Not tonight. I'm your designated driver…remember? I promised your dad I'd get you home safe."

"Aww, that's so sweet! Thanks, boyfriend," I said to him as I took my first sip of the drink. I almost spewed it all over the place. I was prepared to drink something nasty since it was something that humans normally consumed, but this was insanely disgusting. "Ew. What _is_ this?"

"Uhm. I think its schnapps mixed with some PowerAde or something. Just get past the first cup, and you won't be able to tell the difference between any of it," he said winking at me.

Did Roman want me to get drunk so he could do scandalous things to me? I wouldn't let that happen, though I continued to taste my drink, making wrinkled faces after each sip.

I saw Jake across the hall dancing behind Abby. He seemed to be enjoying himself, but he caught my glance. I smiled subtly and he nodded his head a little in response.

Apparently, I was taking gulps instead of sips from my cup; it was empty. "Roman, will you come with me to get another drink?" I asked him.

"Sure," he said smiling that I wanted more.

"And maybe after that, we can dance?" I said hoping he'd agree.

"I'm game for anything you want to do tonight, Nessie."

I sincerely hoped there wasn't a double meaning behind his words. Not that I didn't like Roman, but I didn't want to be taken advantage of. If we were going to do anything, I wanted it to be when I was one hundred percent sober.

After getting another drink, something that tasted remotely better to me, we went to the dance floor. Thankfully, someone else had manned the DJ position, and they were in a groove. We started dancing, and I kept drinking, and drinking, and drinking. We danced a lot, and in many different fashions. I was sure my father wouldn't have approved of half of them, but he wasn't here to witness me.

Roman was still sober, but I was far from it. "Hey, hey, heyyyy. Roman!!! _Youuuu_ should get _meee_ another drink!"

"I'll get you another drink, but I was hoping you'd play a game with me and some friends."

"A game?" I questioned. "Whyyy would I want to p – play a game?" I slurred, burping in the middle of my sentence.

"Yes, a game," he said as he poured me another drink. This one was something fruity. "It's a drinking game, actually. It's called 'Never Have I Ever'…have you ever played?"

"Nope," I said smiling at him. "Butttt, it sounds fun!!! And I still get to drink!!!" He supported a fair amount of my weight as we sat down in a circle on the floor with some other people. I recognized Jenna, Eric and Jessica.

"Okay," Jessica said looking at her components. "Does everyone know how to play?"

"I don't," I managed to say.

"It's not that hard," she said. "This is how it works: Everyone starts out with ten fingers and a full drink. Then, someone starts out by making a statement of something they've never done, and if you've done that particular thing, you have to put one of your ten fingers down, and take a drink. For example, I could say, never have I ever sang in the shower. Everyone that has sung in the shower has to put a finger down and drink something. The object of the game is to get everyone out before you."

"I'll start," Roman announced. "Never have I ever…worn women's clothing," he said after careful consideration. The four girls playing, including myself, and Eric each had to put a finger down and take a drink.

"What?" Eric asked as he received peculiar glances from us all. "It was for a project, I swear!"

"My turn!" I said. "Never have _I_ everrr made out in the rain." My statement got Jenna and Eric out.

"Hey bro, you totally made out with Courtney at that party last year," Eric reminded Roman.

"Oh. Yeah, you're right…" he said as he put a finger down and took a drink of water.

It was Jenna's turn now. "Never have I ever had sex." She looked around curiously to see if anyone would put their fingers down. Jessica was the only one to put her finger down, but nobody asked who it was. She and Mike used to be quite the item.

"Never have I ever played a musical instrument," Eric said. That one left me and Jenna with one less finger and left our cups a little less full.

"Never have I ever…" Jenna started. "Never have I ever dated Roman," she said. I gladly retracted another finger and gulped at my drink. Thankfully, I was the only one that put my finger down. It did mean that I was losing so far.

We went around three more times, and I managed to keep a total of four fingers up by the end of the game. I won! Jenna was the loser of the game. Roman had two fingers left, while Eric and Jessica were tied with only one remaining.

"Phew," I sighed. "That was funnnn!"

"Yes, it was," he agreed. "I didn't know you were so…inexperienced," he said looking at me with his warm, green eyes.

"Roomannnn," I groaned. "You're SO prettyyyy!"

He laughed. "Thanks, sweetie. You're pretty, too."

I was making my way back to the drink table, Roman following suit, when I felt him touch my butt. Instead of doing something horribly inappropriate to him in front of everyone, I just quickened my pace. I was disappointed when he, too, began walking faster to keep up.

I turned awkwardly sideways to serve myself something, and his hand left my body. 'Thank God', I thought to myself. I didn't know if I was ready for something like that.

I was nodding my head to the beat of the music in between sips of my drink. I guess Roman thought I wanted to dance.

He pulled my free hand and led me to the dance floor. It seemed like a whole new guy. He was much less reserved than when we had danced earlier. His hands seemed to wander freely over my body, making me feel uncomfortable.

"Roman," I said as clearly as possible. "Roman, please stop that. I don't want to dance anymore." I tried to walk away from him, but he snaked his arm around my waist, keeping me set in place.

"Yes, you do. You're impaired right now, Nessie. Trust me, you _want_ to dance with me," he said in a seductive voice.

"No. I'm pretty sure I don't" I spat at him, shoving myself away. I fled for the bathroom. What was it with me and bathrooms, anyway?

I didn't quite make it to the bathroom. I ran into a wall on the way, sending me cascading onto the floor. It took me a minute to come to, but when I did, the wall I was expecting to see in front of me was nonexistent. 'That's weird', I thought to myself as I stood up, dusting myself off. That's when I heard it.

"Don't you _ever_ touch her again," a familiar voice shouted. I recognized it almost immediately as Jacob.

Oh no. This couldn't be happening. I rushed forward, weaving my way in and out of people trying to find Jake and Roman. I'm guessing that Jacob was the 'wall' I ran into.

"Hey, man. I didn't do anything!" Roman said trying to defend himself. He had his hands palm up in front of him trying to prove his innocence. What a liar.

"Like hell you didn't," Jake shouted as he towered over Roman. "I've been watching you all night, because I had this odd feeling that you were going to try and pull something."

"Look," Roman said bluntly. "I didn't do anything. Nessie is the one who is drunk. She's the one that has been hanging over me all night. She _wanted_ me to."

"You're such a dumbass. She's been hanging on you all night because she is drunk for the first time. And she _didn't_ want you to. I heard her tell you 'No', and you touched her anyway," he boomed. The music had stopped, and everyone was staring at them waiting for someone to throw a punch. I hoped it wouldn't come to that, because I knew Jacob could lay Roman out and cause some serious damage.

Roman was speechless. "I was just trying to have some fun, Jake," he finally said hoping to appeal to Jake's boyish nature.

"Nessie is not a girl to 'have fun' with. She's better than that. She deserves better than you, but for some odd reason, she still wanted to date _you_, you lowlife."

I didn't think that word could have such a great effect, but when Jake said it, there were gasps and 'ouches' in the audience that had formed. I was still praying that Roman wouldn't be stupid enough to punch Jake.

Too late. Apparently, Roman didn't know what else to do. He'd run out of defense lines, and had decided to try the offensive route instead. He took a swing, and met Jake's jaw with his fist. I heard a cracking noise and saw Roman babying his hand. From my mother's stories, I guessed that Roman had just broken his hand because Jake's bones were abnormally strong.

It didn't faze Jacob. "Ya know, kid. You should really learn how to throw a punch before you try hitting someone. Especially _me_," Jake said coldly.

I saw Jacob start to roll his sleeves up, preparing to deliver a return, and instinct took over. "No," I yelled.

Jake wheeled around to find me darting towards him. "Don't punch him, Jake. Don't do it, please don't do it," I said as tears started to stream down my face. I didn't know why I was starting to cry, but they only seemed to help the situation.

"Nessie. Oh, Nessie," he said as I ran into his open arms. He held me tight as I continued crying like a little girl. He was silently shooing the crowd away from us. After a minute, I had gotten control over myself.

I pried myself from Jake's warm embrace, and saw Roman sitting down on a nearby chair, still clutching his hand. I had almost completely sobered up, and felt certain enough to confront him, especially with Jacob standing behind me. "Roman," I said. "After what happened tonight, I don't think that I want to date you anymore. No. I _know_ I don't want to date you anymore."

"Nessie. I didn't mean it…I was just fooling around. It won't happen again, I promise. I'm sorry," he begged. "Please, don't do this."

Jake took a step forward, placing his hand on my shoulder. It comforted me. "No, Roman. We're done," I said confidently. I turned heel and began heading outside.

"How do you plan on getting home?" he asked me snidely.

"I'm driving her," Jake interjected.

"You've been drinking, too," Roman said. "You're in no state to drive her home."

"And you are? With a broken hand?" he asked amused. "I'll be fine. I'm not incapacitated. And if you have a problem with that…" he said taking a step toward Roman motioning to roll his sleeve up again.

"Oh…no. No problem at all. You can, and _should_ drive Nessie home," he blabbed nervously.

"I'm glad you agree. And if by chance you decide to call the police on me _after_ I leave…I know where you live, and Nessie's grandfather is the chief of police, so I doubt I'd get into any trouble anyway."

"Thanks, Jake," I whispered to him as he cautiously placed his arm around my shoulders and ushered me outside. It was cold, and I shivered a little before asking "What about Abby?"

"Abby can ride home with Roman for all I care," he said as he shrugged out of his own jacket and offered it to me for warmth.

I gladly took it and put it on before getting into his car. He had a spare key inside of his Volkswagen, so the fact that his other keys were locked up was of no consequence to him. He roared the engine to life, and began driving me home.

"Jake," I started. "I'm so sorry, Jake. I didn't mean for any of this to happen…it just did."

"It's not your fault, Ness. There was no way for you to know. Honestly, any guy would be crazy not to hit on you dressed like that. We should have a talk with Alice once we get you home," he said trying to lighten the mood.

"Maybe we can talk with Alice tomorrow. I'd really just like to use the bathroom and sleep until I can't anymore."

"Alright, Nessie. We can talk with Alice tomorrow. You just get some sleep. You've had a very trying night, and I know that you're exhausted."

We pulled into the driveway of my house, and Jake ran around to open my door for me.

"Thanks," I murmured as I climbed out of his car.

"Welcome," he said as we walked up to the house. "If you'd like, I'll explain this all to your parents. I'm sure they'll be able to tell that you need to sleep."

"That would be great, Jake. Thank you. You're always so good to me, even when I don't deserve it…" I trailed off as my father came storming through the front door.

"Relax, Edward," Jake said calmingly. "It's okay. Nessie is fine. Roman has a broken hand. I'll explain everything, I promise."

"Renesmee Carl--," my father began as my mom ran to me and held me tight in her arms.

"No," Jake said harshly. "Please, Edward. Nessie really needs to sleep. She's done nothing wrong, you have to understand that. I _will_ explain everything, but Nessie is going to sleep. Now."

My mother kept an arm around me as we walked into the house. She followed me upstairs while Jake and my father went to the living room to talk.

"Are you alright, sweetie?" my mother asked me in her loving voice.

"Yes, Mom. I'm fine. Just extremely tired."

"Okay," she said. "We'll talk in the morning."

"Sure, sure," I said yawning. She left the room, and I took my shoes off, letting them land noisily on the floor. I didn't even bother changing into my pajamas. I flopped onto my bed, barely able to get my legs under the sheets before sleep overtook me.

**A/N: Okay, guys. So that was the party chapter…sorry if the language/content offended any of you, but I warned you!  
Read and review, please! Let me know what you're thinking- good/bad/apathetic, idc- everything is welcome. [=**


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's note:  
Stephenie Meyer owns Twilight and all of the characters in it…she thought about turning it all over to me, but decided against it. =[**

**Music: The Rolling Stones, Puddle of Mudd**

**Thanks for all of my reviewers & everyone that put my story on their favorites or alerts (: You guys rock **_**and**_** roll.**

**Extra special thanks to superdupersk8r61 for being the best beta ever!**

--"Sure, sure," I said yawning. She left the room, and I took my shoes off, letting them land noisily on the floor. I didn't even bother changing into my pajamas. I flopped onto my bed, barely able to get my legs under the sheets before sleep overtook me.--

**Bella's POV**

After saying goodnight to my daughter, I went back downstairs to find Jake. I wasn't surprised to see Edward interrogating his mind already.

"Hold on," I said as I walked into the living room to sit with them. "Back up, and start from the beginning. I need to hear it all, too."

"We didn't start yet," Jake said.

"You might not have, but Edward has…" I trailed off.

"Oh. Geez, Edward. Would you stop doin' that, please?" Jake pleaded.

"I just want to know, Jake. So if you don't want me to read your mind, you'd better start talking. And fast."

"Well," Jake started. "For starters, I had _no_ idea that there was going to be alcohol at the party, but there was. Roman was Nessie's designated driver, and he didn't have a drop to drink all night – to the best of my knowledge, anyways. Nessie…Nessie is another story," he said sadly.

"What happened, Jake?" my husband asked sternly. "Why was our daughter almost in fits when she came home tonight?"

"You know how I said Nessie was a different story?" Jake asked.

"Yes," I replied.

"She really was. She drank alcohol. And judging by her appearance, I'm guessing it was more than a little. Roman didn't stop her, either. He let it continue until she was drunk."

"If he _ever_ sets foot in this house, or meets my line of sight again. I swear…" Edward said through clenched teeth.

I put a soothing arm around him. "Our daughter is safe," I reminded him.

"Yes. I know, and I'm glad. But Roman is the one that said he'd bring her home safe, not Jake."

"He would have brought her home, if he hadn't broken his hand," Jake said trying to suppress a laugh.

"How did he break his hand?" I asked curiously.

"Do you remember when you punched me several years back, Bella? Well…Roman tried to punch me, too. And he broke his hand, just like you did," Jake explained.

"Why on earth did he punch you?" Edward asked.

"You two need to calm down. This would be much, much easier if you let me start from the beginning and tell you guys the events of the night as they happened."

"Fine," I said in unison with my husband.

Jake went through the details of Nessie's evening, including the drinking game he'd seen her playing. Edward and I were going to have a talk with her, and I didn't think she'd like it very much. But he also explained about her dancing and Roman starting to touch her inappropriately. I could practically see the fumes coming out of Edward's ears. Jake went on to tell us that Nessie said 'No' to Roman very clearly, and he continued with his actions, causing her to flee.

"That's when I came in," he announced proudly. "I told him to back off and leave her alone, and I guess he didn't like the sound of that too much, so he punched me. Only he didn't know I was a werewolf, so he broke his hand. I was getting ready to lay the kid out when Nessie interjected."

"I wish you would have done it anyway," Edward mumbled.

"I would have, Edward, but she was practically begging me not to. With me behind her, she broke up with him, and we left. And here we are."

"Thank you, Jake. For protecting my baby, and for standing up for her when she couldn't do it herself," I said expressing my gratitude to Jacob.

"You know I'd risk my life for hers, Bells. She's the only reason that I want to live…" he said as he looked down towards his feet.

"Jake, it sounds like you've had a rough night, too. You should get some sleep…perhaps our daughter could use a little comfort from you tonight. You're welcome to join her upstairs. I know you won't try anything, and I know that she loves you more than you could possibly fathom right now," Edward said.

"I agree," I said.

"If you guys _insist_," he smiled as he stood up.

"Thank you, again, Jake," I said to him. "I'm not sure if you can comprehend how grateful we are right now."

"I'd do it again in a heartbeat for Ness," he said honestly walking out of the living room and making his way upstairs.

I sighed. "What are we going to do about this, Edward?"

He kissed my forehead lightly and held me in his arms. "I suggest we let the kids sleep it off, and tomorrow we'll talk to Nessie about it. I couldn't be happier that she's safe, but she does need to know that her actions have consequences."

"I'm sure that she's beating herself up about this just as much, if not more, than you are," I said to him. "Maybe we should see what punishment she offers, and we'll go from there."

He chuckled. "That's right. Our daughter does like to punish herself, doesn't she? I suppose that will work."

We sat there for the longest time in each other's arms. I fought hard, but managed to retract my barrier and let my husband share my thoughts for the rest of the evening.

**  
Nessie's POV**

At some point during the night, I didn't know when, I felt someone lay down next to me. Almost immediately, I felt heat emanating from the source, letting me know it was Jacob. I wasn't sure how he'd managed to sneak into my room, but I couldn't help but love it. The heat from his bare chest was extremely comforting. I felt like this is where I belonged; where I should have been all along. I snuggled into the warmth, and let my eyes drift heavily back shut.

I awoke some time later from a weird white light shining in through the window and a splitting headache. It seemed that today was either a sunny day in Forks, or a snowy day. I'd be happy with either. We were off from school anyway, because it was Labor Day. I looked over to see a shirtless Jake staring at me just like he used to do.

"Back to your usual creeper self?" I asked him jokingly.

"I suppose so," he said as he turned away from me, towards the night stand.

"Aww, c'mon, Jake. I was just playing," I said.

"Oh, I know. I just thought you might want these," he said, offering me two small white pills and a glass of water. "It's Tylenol for that headache of yours."

"Right, thanks," I said as I took the pills from them. I put them on my tongue and washed them down with water. "So how'd my parents take everything?"

"Rationally, I suppose. Your dad wants to kill Roman, your mom is just thankful you're alright. You know, they're just being parents."

"Did they mention anything about punishing me?" I asked him.

"Not that I heard, but I don't know if that means you're not in trouble," he said to me with a frown. "You didn't do anything wrong, really. It was all on Roman's shoulders."

"I drank underage, Jake. My mom is the police chief's daughter, and my dad…well…he's my dad. You know Edward. He's a stickler for the rules. I'm bound to get something. I'll offer two weeks of house arrest aside from school and hunting…I'll be lucky if they take that," I trailed off. I really hoped they wouldn't ground me for longer than two weeks. It seemed like so long.

"I'm glad you're safe, sweetie," Jake said to me.

"Jake," I started. "Please, don't do that right now."

"Do what?" he asked innocently.

"Don't be _that_ guy…you know, the one that still likes the stupid, idiotic girl that screwed everything up to begin with. I don't deserve jack squat, and I want to wallow in my misery for a while."

"Uhm, Nessie. I don't think I can do that. I only have eyes for you, remember?"

"Ughhh," I grabbed a pillow and shoved it on my face. "I think I'll go face my parents now…maybe _they_ will be mad at me for being stupid."

He laughed. "Okay, Ness. You have fun with that, but if you want someone that isn't mad at you, you know where to find me."

I got up and left him lying on my bed. I didn't understand, especially after last night, how he could still like me. I had been nothing but rude and selfish, and yet, there he was.

I met two sets of eyes at the bottom of the staircase, and wished almost immediately that I could go back upstairs to Jacob. My parents were waiting for me. Apparently, my father wanted to start where he left off from the night before.

"Renesmee Carlie Cullen. What has gotten in to you?" he asked me harshly.

"I don't know, daddy," I said, trying to play the innocent card.

"Don't you daddy me, missy."

"Edward," my mom interjected. "Remember what we talked about?"

My father sighed. "Yes."

I really didn't want to be grilled, so I figured I'd start apologizing now while I had the chance. "I'm so sorry. I don't know what I was thinking last night. I was stupid and careless, and definitely not in the right state of mind. I guess…I guess I just wanted everyone to like me, so I did what they were all doing to try and fit in."

"Honey, you know you don't have to drink for people to like you. And if you do, then you're probably better off not being friends with them. Friends are supposed to like you for who you are, not for someone they want you to be," my mother said to me. It felt like she was talking from personal experience.

"I know…well…I guess I know that _now_. But I swear, no more alcohol for me until I'm of age. It tasted like crap, and I positively hated what it did to me. Is two weeks of house arrest a good punishment? I probably deserve more…no. I _know_ I deserve more. I was so naïve." My thoughts had turned from the alcohol to Roman, which my dad picked up on.

"You're not naïve, Nessie," my father said to me soothingly. "You're just a little girl, and you got used. There was no way for you to know that Roman was like that, though I should have realized it. I'm sorry, too."

He glanced over at my mom and they shook their heads in agreement. "We think that your suggestion of a punishment is fair. No television, no phone, no computer. However, since I can hear Jacob's thoughts upstairs right now, you will be allowed to see him. There is no point in trying to keep him away for two weeks. Plus, he's the one that dug you out of this whole mess. He really cares for you, Renesmee."

I sighed. How many times was I going to be reminded of this in one day?

"At least once more. Jacob Black cares for you, Nessie." Sometimes I really detested having a father that could read my thoughts.

"Okay," I said. "Can I be excused now?"

"Yes," my mom said. "Your father and I are going hunting. We'll be back in a bit."

"Alright," I mumbled as I went back upstairs. I walked back into 'my' room and found Jake just where I'd left him. He was propped up against the backboard of the bed, still shirtless, watching television. I couldn't help but let my eyes wander over his chest. His muscles were incredibly toned and his skin was the prettiest olive color.

'Snap out of it', I thought to myself. For some reason, my mind wouldn't snap. Instead, it lingered for what seemed like an eternity.

"See something you like?" Jake questioned me.

His voice broke my trance. "Oh," I stuttered. "Um…No…I- I mean…I was just having flashbacks…of last night," I added. Which was true, I was having flashbacks from the night before, only they weren't of the party. They were of the comfort and warmth I felt with Jacob laying next to me while I slept.

I walked over to the bed and sat down next to him.

"So, how bad?"

"They accepted my offer. Two weeks house arrest, with a catch," I said.

"A catch? Bella and Edward have never been for catches…what is it?"

"I guess it isn't really much of a _catch_ so to say. Maybe a _benefit _would more accurately describe it," I said trying to taunt him. "Or maybe even _torture_ depending on how you look at it."

"Ness. Just tell me what it is for heaven's sake."

"I am on house arrest for two weeks. But I still get to see you."

He smiled. "Am I really torturous?"

"You haven't been so far, but I don't know if I can stand two whole weeks of nothing but family." I didn't say 'family _and_ you' because Jake _was_ a part of our family. I'd grown up with him, and all of my family loved him as part of us.

"Family, huh?" He said nudging my arm like a little kid.

"Yes, family. You knew that already, though. And don't you dare try to twist my words!"

"I guess it just has more of a ring to it when you say it that way. And trust me; you'll love me more than ever by the end of these two weeks. I'll be the one saving you from being Alice's dress up doll and from being Emmett's personal punching bag."

"I suppose you're right," I sighed as I let my head fall to meet his chest. I wasn't exactly sure how I felt at that particular moment, but I was glad to have him so close to me. I'd decided, and I didn't know why, to say the three words that I might possibly regret for the rest of my life. Apparently there was no time like the present, right?

I took a deep breath, preparing myself for what could happen. Mid-breathe, I almost choked on air. Jake had taken a deep breath only moments before me.

"Renesmee, I love you," Jake beamed down at me. "Always have, always will."

'Okay', I thought to myself. 'Breathe in, breathe out. There. That's good'. I was shocked. How had he beaten me to saying that! I was so prepared, and he just took away all of my glory. I frowned.

He saw my expression and was quick to respond. "You don't have to say it, Nessie. I'll understand. I just wanted you to know."

"That's _not_ why I was frowning," I sighed.

"It's not?" He questioned.

"No. I was frowning because, literally a second before you said that to me, I had every intention of saying it to you. I love you too, Jacob." The frown on my face disappeared faster than I could have imagined.

I didn't know what kind of consequences or benefits would spawn from what we'd just said to each other, but I was ready for anything.

**A/N: So...I accidentally posted this with a comment that my fantabulent beta, superdupersk8r61, wrote when she edited this chapter...but removed it because I didn't intend for it to be here. After consideration, and reading dilidilzz's review about it, I decided is too funny _not_ to keep up. Lol.  
**"Does my being half-naked bother you?"  
Why yes, Jake, it does. Please lose the other half!  
**[: Review! Let me know what your thoughts are!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Author's note:  
Twilight & all of the characters in it belong to Stephenie Meyer.  
Music: 3 Doors Down, Blue October**

**Just wanted to give an extra, **_**extra**_** special thanks to all my reviewers- you guys keep me going!!! [:**

**Superdupersk8r61 is by far the best beta anyone could ask for! Thanks, girl!!**

--I didn't know what kind of consequences or benefits would spawn from what we'd just said to each other, but I was ready for anything.--

**Nessie's POV**

***Two weeks later***

The past two weeks of my life passed by inconsequentially. There were good parts and bad parts, but mostly it was just really boring. After I told Jake I loved him, we decided that we would wait to see how things panned out with Roman and Abby before making us 'official'. I could wait. After all, if we were real, then time didn't matter. Right?

When I was at home, I did excessive amounts of homework and played board games with Jake. He did manage to keep me from being a dress up doll for Alice, which I was extremely grateful for. When I was at school, I spent as much time with Jacob as possible. I managed to get my biology teacher, Mr. Holmstead, to change my lab partner, so distancing myself from Roman became much easier for me.

As it turns out, Roman must not have liked me too much. Surprisingly enough, he started dating Abby a week after we broke up. That kind of peeved me a little, but it didn't matter because I had the best guy in the world; Jake.

***

"So, what do you want to do first?" Jake asked me on the morning I was officially free from being grounded. "Maybe watch some television or get on the computer?"

"Hmm," I pondered. "I don't know."

"Or maybe…nah…you probably wouldn't like that much," he teased at me.

"Try me," I joked.

"Fine," he sighed. "I was going to say that maybe you'd like to go on an official date with me tonight?"

"Yeah…you were right. I probably wouldn't like that…"

Jake frowned.

I sucker punched him. "I was just kidding around! Of course I want to go on a date with you. I love you, remember?"

"Really?!? Sweet! Oh my gosh, Ness. We're going to have so much fun! Oh, and I guess that maybe I might just love you too," he smiled at me.

"Well then, I look forward to an amazing date after school today. I should probably clear it with my parents first, though."

I heard my father shout from downstairs. "It's fine by us, sweetie. You kids have fun!"

I laughed, and so did Jake. "So, what are we going to do on this date of ours?"

"If I told you, I'd have to kill you," he said to me.

"Fine, then. I guess I'll just have to wait and see," I said bluntly.

"Guess so," he replied.

I was so excited for my date with Jake that the school day seemed to drag on slower than usual…especially the classes I didn't have with him.

After what seemed like a millennium, the final bell rang and we were dismissed for the day. The weather had cleared up nicely throughout the day and we no longer needed the rain coats we'd worn earlier in the day. We hopped into Jake's car and he pulled out of Forks High.

"So when does this date start, and what should I wear?" I asked him. Asking about clothing was always one way to at least get an idea about what the night's events entailed. If I had any doubts, I was sure I could con Alice into helping me figure that part out.

"Well. We're going to leave at five, and you can wear whatever you'd like."

That was only a bit too broad. "Can you narrow that down for me, please?"

"I did…we're leaving at five p.m., and it doesn't matter what you wear," he said trying to clarify. It didn't help me at all.

"Jake, you have to give me some sort of a clue so that I can be dressed appropriately. I don't know if I should dress up or if jeans would be alright. Or maybe khakis? Should I wear heels, or are tennis shoes okay? Narrow it down for me!" I said trying to get information out of him.

"You look beautiful in everything. That's why I said it didn't matter what you wore. I suppose that jeans and a pair of converse would do nicely, though," he said to me.

I couldn't stop my cheeks from turning a rosy red. "Aww, that's sweet, Jake. And thanks for clarifying that." I was still a bit upset. Jeans and converse could really be for any kind of date. I was thinking of all the different things we could do in my head and barely noticed when we got back to the house.

Jake leaned over and kissed my forehead lightly. "We're home, Ness. You can snap out of it now," he laughed at me.

I grabbed my backpack and headed inside. I wanted to get my homework done before our date so I wouldn't have to do any of it when we got back. I figured I'd be too giddy to do anything requiring critical thought after we got back.

The afternoon flew by surprisingly fast, though I did manage to finish my mountainous pile of homework from the day. I ran upstairs and started searching restlessly through the drawers for the pair of jeans I wanted. After a minute of digging, I found them. They were dark blue skinny jeans with an intricate pattern embroidered on the rear pockets. I shrugged on a red v-neck sweater and let my hair fall down my back. I put on a little bit of makeup and hooked the locket my parents gave me around my neck. I was ready.

I went downstairs and found Jake standing in the living room with a single red rose between his fingers hanging lazily at his side. He was dressed similarly to me. Jeans and a light blue, button down pinstriped shirt. He must have heard my footsteps because he turned to greet me. His mouth fell open a little bit.

He quickly recovered. "You look beautiful, Nessie," he smiled at me as he gestured for me to come stand next to him.

I walked forward at a slower than usual pace, but I wanted to save the moment. He looked extremely handsome, and I couldn't help but stare. The first few buttons of his shirt were undone, exposing his tan, toned chest. "You're not half bad yourself," I managed to squeak out.

Jake closed the distance I'd left between us. His chest was almost touching my own. He looked down at me with his puppy dog eyes and said, "For you." He moved his hand with the rose in between our bodies so I had no choice but to smell it, and it smelled divine. Even though it had the original 'rose-like' smells to it, it also had a hint of Jacob's woodsy scent, which made it _that much _better.

"Aww, thanks," I smiled up at him. He was a good bit taller than me, but I stretched on to my tippy toes and managed to give him a peck on the cheek.

"Anything for you, Ness," he said.

"Let me run and put this in a little vase before we leave, okay?"

"Sure sure. I'll be right here," he said to me.

I ran into the kitchen and found a skinny vase under the sink. I put some water in it and slid the rose in before putting it on the table in the dining room. It made a dainty centerpiece.

"Okay," I said as I darted back to where Jake was. "Let's be on our way!"

I started walking to Jake's car, but he swiftly grabbed my hand and redirected me to the garage. I seriously hoped we weren't going to be taking my obnoxiously loud truck on our first date. I realized we weren't when he pulled a black set of keys from his pocket and pressed a button. My mom's bright red Ferrari responded with two loud beeps. Man, this boy was serious! He was going all out for our 'first date', and I couldn't be happier.

"Your Rabbit would've been just fine, you know," I said to him.

"I know," he sighed as he opened my door for me. "I just wanted this to be perfect. And what is more perfect than a Ferrari with my girlfriend sitting in the passenger seat next to me?"

I chuckled. "Only having _my_ boyfriend in the passenger seat sitting next to _me_ in a Ferrari." It hit me after I said it. Jake just called me his girlfriend. And I just called him my boyfriend. "So, uh. We're 'official' now?"

"Oh, uhm, only if you want us to be. I wasn't really thinking when I said that…" he trailed off.

"Of course I want that!" I smiled as I tried to hug him across the console. It proved more difficult than I thought, so we settled for a hand shake. "Boyfriend," I beamed with a grin plastered across my face from ear to ear.

"Yep," he said as he roared the engine to life. "And you're my girl."

"Yes, I am," I said as if I was confirming it. "So now that we're officially _on_ the date, can you tell me what we're doing?"

"Nope. You're just going to have to wait."

"Fine," I groaned. I did recognize the road we were on. We were heading towards La Push, which is not what I expected. I thought something in Forks or Port Angeles, but I couldn't think of anything that was on the reservation aside from Jake's dad. Oh no. Was he taking me to meet his father? I wasn't prepared for this.

"Jake…You…You aren't taking me to meet you father, are you?" I asked nervously.

"That really isn't really traditional of a first date, so no. You've got to give me more credit than that, Ness," he said to me as he tried to suppress a laugh.

"I didn't think you were, but we _are_ heading to your hometown…and it seemed logical because there isn't much to do in La Push. I had to ask just to be sure."

"'Isn't much to do'," he quoted me. "You don't know us rez kids very well, do you?"

"I know _you_ very well. Does that count?"

"Not tonight, it doesn't," he said sweetly to me. "We're almost there, any ways…so you won't be wondering too much longer."

"Good, because the suspense is killing me!"

Jake pulled the Ferrari into a small parking lot with a trail at the head of it.

"Hiking?" I asked him.

"No, silly. Read the sign," he instructed me. I looked around briefly before locating the sign. It read 'First Beach' along with some history of it.

"Oh. I didn't bring my suit. You should've told me and then I could have brought it!"

"No worries, Ness. I have it," he said as popped the trunk and got out of the car. He ran over to my side and opened the door for me before he got a bag and basket out of the trunk.

"Aww, Jake. This is going to be the best date in the history of dates," I said excitedly to him. I couldn't wait for everything to get going.

"We'll see. You can judge me after it's over, okay?"

"I'm sure you'll get an A," I smiled at him.

"Here," he said as he handed me my bikini. "There are some bathrooms just over there that you can change in. I'll meet you back here in a couple of minutes."

"Okay," I said as I took the suit from him and made my way to the bathroom. I quickly changed, though I put my jeans back on over my bikini bottoms, and went back outside.

"Ready?" he asked me.

"Ready," I replied.

We started walking aimlessly down the beach, though as it turned out, Jake had a specific spot he was trying to find. "Ah, here we are," he said as he set everything down.

We were closer to the forest than the water, and he plopped the basket and bag down next to a long, thick piece of driftwood. He took out two towels and hoisted his shirt over his head, not bothering to unbutton it first.

You'd think that the more I saw him shirtless, the easier it would be. But I was wrong. I think it may have gotten harder each time. I pulled my own jeans off and folded them before Jacob grabbed my hand.

"Let's go!" he shouted as he started towing me off to the ocean. He let go of my hand right before he ran forcefully into the water. I stayed back and decided to test the water's temperature before fully committing myself to it. It was warm enough to swim in, which I guess Jake already knew because he grew up here.

Jake was standing in the water with his hands floating on top and he motioned for me to come join him. I braved the waves and finally managed to get to him, though I could no longer touch the bottom.

Being in the ocean with him was great. It was like we were one person. The waves flowed around us and moved us in the same ways at the same times. It was pure bliss.

"This is great, Jake," I said as I turned to face him in the water.

"Well I'm glad you're enjoying yourself, Nessie."

We stared deep into one another's eyes for what seemed like an eternity, though it wasn't nearly long enough. He closed his beautiful eyes and kissed me like he never had before. I loved every second of it; more than I should have. He pulled away from me, and all I could do was smile.

He splashed some water in my face, quickly bringing me out of my trance. "Oh, so that's how it's going to be?" I said to him jokingly as I began splashing him back.

He shielded himself from my splashes, and I couldn't do much more than that because I couldn't touch the bottom. I started moving backwards a little so that I could touch. As soon as I found my footing, I let him have it. I kicked and splashed and he gave it right back to me. We were just having fun being kids.

"Okay, okay," he shouted. "I surrender." He had his head turned to the side with his eyes closed so I couldn't get the saltwater in his eyes. He also raised his hands up into the air to let me see he wasn't going to try any funny business.

"Good decision," I said to him.

"Yeah, I thought so too. I'm pretty hungry though, do you want to get something to eat?"

"Sure," I said as we made our way, hand in hand, out of the water. I wished that I could have had time to make myself pretty again before we ate, but I didn't think Jake cared much either way. He always saw me for who I really was.

Jake handed me a towel and I began drying myself off. "So," I started nonchalantly. "Where are we going for dinner?"

"Come here," he said to me, arms open wide. I willingly walked into them. "You're here."

"Huh?"

"I made dinner, and I thought we could eat here while it's twilight."

"Jake, you know you are too sweet for your own good, right?"

"I do now that you told me that," he said to me. "I'll be right back," he said as his eyes scanned the beach and he ran off.

"Okay…" I said. He came back a minute later with driftwood overflowing in his hands.

He made a little house with the pieces of wood, just like a boy scout would, and stuffed a sheet of paper in the middle of it before setting in on fire. "There," he said proudly as the wood caught.

"Woah!" I exclaimed. "The flames, they're blue and green!"

"Yep," Jake responded. "It's from the salt in them. Pretty cool, huh?"

"Yeah! That's amazing!"

Jake rummaged around through the basket and took several things out. He flipped the basket over and set it on top of a flat rock, making it just high enough to be called a table.

"So what's on the menu tonight?" I asked him.

"Well," he started. "We have salads to start, and then you can have your choice between a couple of pastas, and dessert is my very own famous home baked chocolate chip cookie cake."

"Sounds delicious! And you said that you cooked all of this?" I asked with a hint of shock in my voice.

"Well, Edward may have helped me a tiny bit with the pasta. But for the most part, I did."

We munched on our food and talked casually in between bites. This date was completely and utterly the textbook definition of the perfect date. We were sitting on the beach together watching the sun set. We even sampled each other's pasta, though he spoon fed his to me. And his chocolate chip cookie cake was literally the best thing that had ever touched my tongue. My taste buds must have felt like they were in heaven from the doughy, chocolate-y goodness of it all.

"Jacob Black. You are an amazing chef, and I think you should cook for me more often! You make it seem like you don't know how to fry an egg, and yet you manage to make the best food that has ever come in contact with my mouth."

"I'm not _that_ good," he said as he blushed ever so faintly.

"Yes, actually, you are."

We had finished eating and Jake packed everything back up into the basket. It was dark, but neither of us wanted to leave. I curled up to his warm body, and all I could think of was the song 'Your Arms Feel Like Home' by 3 Doors Down. I started humming the tune, and I could feel Jake staring at me.

I looked up at him. "What?"

"What's that song you were just humming?"

"It's 'Your Arms Feel Like Home' by 3 Doors Down…," I said trailing off.

"Why were you humming it?" he asked me.

"Well…I'm lying here with you, and you and I together just makes me think of that song. Mostly of the line 'your arms feel like home', because they honestly do. I feel like this is where I should have been all along, Jake. And I'm sorry that I went through that whole Roman thing, because I missed out on two weeks of this!"

"Aww, Ness. Now _you're_ too sweet for your own good! And don't be sorry about Roman. That was something you needed to go through; something you needed to experience to get where you are right now. As for the song, I love it. And if you don't mind…I'd like to make it _our_ song. I know it's kind of cliché, but it just seems so appropriate."

"Our song," I agreed.

"As much as I hate to say this, I think I should be getting you home. It is a school night, and I don't want to give my girlfriend's parents the wrong idea about my intentions," he said smiling down at me.

"Heaven forbid they don't like you," I joked with him. "Okay, okay. Let's go then." He put out the fire. I helped him gather everything up, and we walked hand in hand back to the Ferrari.

**Sorry it took so long to update…school is pretty hectic right now.  
Anywho, I'm thinking that this story is probably going to wind up being 30 ish chapters…will you guys still read it? (keep in mind that pretty soon…possibly after the next chapter, I will be fast forwarding to Nessie's graduation &+ after that is when really, really great stuff is going to happen :] )  
Review! Kthnx [:**


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer:  
Twilight & all of the characters in it belong to Stephenie Meyer.**

Music: Jack's Mannequin, Goo goo dolls.

**Thanks to the bestest-estest-estest beta ever; superdupersk8r61**

--"Heaven forbid they don't like you," I joked with him. "Okay, okay. Let's go then." He put out the fire. I helped him gather everything up, and we walked hand in hand back to the Ferrari.—

**Nessie's POV**

We put everything into the trunk and got back into the car. He started the engine and then leaned over to kiss me before we made our way back home. "Just in case your parents are waiting out front…I wanted to be able to give you a good night kiss."

"Good thinking," I said.

When his right hand wasn't occupied shifting gears, it was intertwined with my own. His hands were rough, yet oddly enough, they were very comforting.

We arrived home much sooner than I hoped, but I suppose that the night couldn't last forever, right?

Wrong.

I saw a light in the house go on and then immediately off again. Then, Jake ran around to my door and opened it for me. He didn't bother to get our things out of the trunk. Instead, he put his arm around my shoulder and walked around the house so that we were near the river in the back yard.

"Umm, Jake? The house is _that_ way," I said pointing behind me.

"I know," he said. "We're not going inside though."

"What about my parents?" I questioned.

"They know we're out here, and they're fine with it," he said to me comfortingly.

"And just how do you know that? You aren't exactly psychic."

"No, I'm not. But your dad is."

"Could you maybe explain rather than giving me little miscellaneous tid-bits of information? Please?"

"Sure, sure," he said laughing. "When we pulled up, I was thinking about coming around here with you. I just cut out a step, that's all. Rather than going inside to ask your parents, I thought about asking them and asked your dad to flash a light once for yes and twice for no."

"Oh," I said dumbfounded. "That works, I guess."

He sat down on the damp grass and offered me a seat in his lap which I gladly took. Surprisingly enough, it was a clear night in Forks. We sat in each other's arms, gazing up at the stars in the sky. He looked up and pointed out a constellation to me. I looked, too, trying to find it when a shooting star made its way across the sky.

I closed my eyes tight and made a wish.

"What did you wish for?" he asked me sweetly.

"If I tell you, it won't come true," I insisted. "Though, on the other hand, it has already come true."

"So…what was it?" he asked again.

"I wished to have you for forever," I gleamed.

"Silly, Nessie," he laughed. "You _do_ have me forever."

Without a word, Jake stood up. He kept me secured tightly in his arms, and made his way to the house. He carried me upstairs and set me gently on the bed. Before he kissed me goodnight, he looked at me so incandescently, I thought my heart would melt.

"Goodnight, my love," he said to me.

"Night," I replied. "See you tomorrow…Oh, and Jake? Thank you…for the best date of my life."

"No problem, Ness. There is a whole lot more where that came from," he smiled at me. He flicked the light off on his way out and I was left with only my thoughts.

***several months later***

My relationship with Jake only grew stronger as the months passed. We spent every waking moment together, and I couldn't be happier. He was definitely being honest when he told me 'there is a whole lot more where that came from'. I didn't know he had it in him, but I was sure wrong. We went on so many fantastic dates together, and each one was unique in its own way.

No doubt about it; I was the luckiest girl on the planet.

Each amazing member of my family, including Jake, applied to Dartmouth. We were all accepted, though getting Jake in took a hefty monetary donation from our family. Money wasn't a big deal for us, so they didn't really have a problem with it. I could hardly believe I would be leaving Forks in a couple of months to go to college in New Hampshire.

More than that, I would be graduating tomorrow. I guess time really does fly when you're having fun.

"So, Nessie," my father started. "Are you ready for one of the biggest days of your life?"

"I guess so," I replied dryly.

"What's wrong, sweetie?" my mother asked me.

"It's nothing, really. I'm fine," I said to which I got 'the look' from both of my parents.

I sighed. "It's just that I feel kind of like I got jipped. I mean…every other senior I'm graduating with has gone through so much more than me. They've all had a lot more time to adjust to school, and they've made transitions from middle school to high school. I haven't. I'm young and I feel cheated."

"Honey, you really shouldn't feel cheated," my father said. "Do you want to know why?"

I nodded my head.

"Maybe they have had more life experiences than you, but you will get to have so many more than them in the long run. Trust me when I say you will get tired of going to school and learning the same things. And you'll make the transition from high school to college countless times. Nessie, you are blessed with an amazing life. All you have to do is realize that, and then you can see the bigger picture."

"I guess so," I moaned.

"Plus," my father added, "You should be excited for graduation, because Jake is thinking about how you'll react to the present he's going to give you."

"Present?!?!" I exclaimed. It was at times like this when I wished my gift could work the opposite way so that I could see into Jake's mind.

"Aww, Edward. Why did you have to go and do that to me," Jake groaned as he walked into the living room. "Now that's all I'm going to hear about until I give it to her."

"Sorry," my dad laughed. "Couldn't resist."

"Hey Jake," I said as I darted over to him and greeted him with a kiss.

"No," he said sternly.

"What?" I asked innocently. "I was _just_ saying hello."

"No, you were not _just_ saying hello. You were trying to get me to give into temptation. I know you pretty well, Nessie, and it's just not going to work this time."

I frowned. In the past, I had managed to weasel some information out of him that he was unwilling to give. I suppose I just had that kind of effect on him.

"Well, when can I find out?" I asked him sweetly.

"When I give it to you, of course," he replied simply.

"Which is…," I trailed off.

"Tomorrow after the whole shebang," he said.

"Shebang?" I questioned.

"Yes, shebang. After you walk across the stage and after dinner with the family. You'll just have to wait until then."

"But Jakeeeeee," I groaned. "That's a whole day away! I can't wait that long. Can't I please just have one little clue?"

He kissed me.

"That doesn't count. I need a verbal hint," I insisted.

"You should go to bed. Tomorrow is going to be a big day for both of us," he smiled.

"Ugh! That was _not_ a hint! Dad?" I said turning towards my father. "Can you help a daughter out here?"

"Sorry, Ness. I've done enough already. You really should get some rest though. It's not every day that you graduate from high school for the first time."

"Fine," I said shortly. "I'll see you all tomorrow." I stalked out of the room, pounded my feet on each stair step, stomped down the hall to my bedroom, and slammed the door shut just to let them know how peeved I was. I hated it when I didn't get my way.

I didn't know what Jacob got me, and it was eating me alive. I went over each detail of the conversation I'd had earlier that night. My father said Jake was wondering how I'd react to it. When I asked for a clue, I got kissed. When I asked for a different clue, I got told to go to bed. I wish I was a psychic like my Dad.

I let my thoughts consume me and tire me out. I fell asleep sometime late in the evening and slept soundly until the morning.

**A/N:  
I know this chapter was incredibly short, but I didn't have anything else to put in it. As you are reading this, I'm writing the next chapter- hopefully to be posted tomorrow. Thanks to everyone who is reading my story. :] You guys are amazing 3.**

**Also- I wrote a pretty fluffy one shot (B/E) for Valentine's Day called 'It's All For You'. Check it out! :]**


	14. Chapter 14

**Hey guys...No excuses. I suck…hopefully this chapter will compensate a little.**

**Disclaimer:  
Sadly, I do not own any amazing-ness like Stephenie Meyer. Twilight is all hers. :[  
**

--I let my thoughts consume me and tire me out. I fell asleep sometime late in the evening and slept soundly until the morning. --

**Nessie's POV**

I woke up at eleven in the morning. I had three hours before the Fork's High graduation ceremony in the school's gymnasium. I guess you could say that I was beginning to feel the nerves. It felt like there were butterflies having a rave party in my stomach or something of the sort.

I heard a soft knock on the door before my mother entered the room.

"Good morning," she said to me sweetly.

"Morning, Mom," I replied.

"Are you excited for your big day?" she asked as she came and sat next to me on the bed.

"I guess so. Like I said yesterday, it all just feels too soon. You know?"

"I know exactly how you feel, honey. I graduated, got married, gave birth to you, _and_ got changed into a vampire all in the time span of a few months. I know that's not quite exactly what you're going through, but I do understand what it feels like to be rushed through life."

"Geez," I said as my mother laughed at my response.

"That's not going to happen to you, though. You're going to walk across that stage today, and you'll be going to college with us in a few months. You're going to have the greatest life with Jacob," she smiled at me.

"Okay…" I said confused as to why she tacked on that last bit. "Anyways. I guess I should start getting ready. I bet Alice is sitting out in the hall twiddling her thumbs impatiently waiting for me to ask her to help me."

"Aww, man," Alice groaned as she trudged deliberately slow into my room with a defeated look on her face. "What gave me away?"

My mom and I looked at each other and practically burst into fits of laughter.

After wiping tears of laughter from my cheek, I breathed heavily and looked at Alice. "You're just too predictable when it comes to the girly things in life."

"Oh well," she sighed. "So what should we do first?!? Hair? Nails? Makeup?"

That was one thing about Alice I loved. Her 'down' moods never lasted long before she sprang back to her usual self.

My mom kissed me on the head. "Good luck, Nessie. I'll see you in a couple hours."

"Gee, thanks," I said jokingly.

My mother left the room and I was left with my Aunt Alice. The good thing about having her is that this would be the easiest two hours of getting ready in the entire history of getting ready. She did everything for me, except for putting my clothes on, of course. I simply sat in a chair in the bathroom and let her do her thing.

If I wasn't half vampire, I would've surely fainted from her lightening fast speed. It was like things were being shoved into my head faster than the speed of light! I didn't even have time to moan an "ouch" out before she was jabbing something else at me. The makeup, thank God, she was a bit more careful with. Both of my eyes remained entirely intact. By the time I thoroughly thumbed through a gossipy magazine, she was finished.

"Done!" she exclaimed excitedly.

I looked up into the mirror for the first time and was shocked to see someone else staring back at me. I had been 'made up' before, but nothing like this. Alice had gone all out on this one, but I liked it. I looked older and I thought I looked pretty sexy, too. Guess I'd have to ask Jake about that one. She'd French braided my hair in some weird way around my head that made it into a bun-like glob of hair in the back. Instead of braiding the loose ends, she curled them. She even managed to incorporate a pink ribbon and sprig of baby's breath into it all.

She kept my makeup fairly simple; a lightly powdered face with smoky eyes and a soft pink lip gloss to top it off.

"Wow," I said with a sigh.

"Oh. You hate it, don't you?" she pouted.

"No no no no no!!!! I LOVE it! I am going to have the best up-do at this graduation. Heck, I bet it's probably the best up-do in the history of graduations! Thank you SO much Auntie Alice!"

"You're welcome, Nessie. You know that whenever you need to be made over, I'm the girl to do it!" she smiled at me. "Though I do wish you wouldn't call me Aunt sometimes. It makes me feel old…and I kind of like being eternally young. Oh! How 'bout you just call me Alice. Yeah…I like the sound of that."

I laughed at her and secretly wondered what she was like as a little girl…if she played dress up and put on gaudy makeup. Or maybe she just wanted to find something to get insanely good at to preoccupy herself after she became a vampire. I'd make a note to ask someone about that later.

"Oh, and Ness?"

"Yeah?"

"Your cap and gown are hanging up in your closet along with the white bag that has your dress in it. I searched high and low for the perfect dress, so I hope you like it!"

"I'm sure I'll love it. Thank you so much for helping me," I said gratefully to her.

"You betcha, kiddo," she said as she winked at me. "You should go ahead and get dressed though. We need to leave here in about fifteen minutes."

"Oh. Can you help me get my dress on so that I don't mess up my hair?"

"You won't need my help," she promised. "It'll fit just fine over that beautiful head of hair."

"Okayyyy," I said cautiously. "See you in a few then."

I walked slowly over to the closet, scared of what I might find when I unzipped the white bag that was now staring back at me. Alice did one of two things; either she went _way_ overboard, or she was straight on. I was hoping for the latter. I breathed in heavily, and unzipped the bag with one eye closed and the other barely squinted open.

Sighing in relief, I pulled out the beautiful dress. It was a light blue, strapless, knee-length dress. The top of it was lightly beaded and had a soft pink ribbon that formed a small, delicate bow in the middle which carried around to form an empire waist. The ends of the ribbon trailed all the way to the bottom of the lacy, tiered dress. It matched the ribbon that Alice had incorporated into my hair, and I absolutely loved it. I was making it a point to find another occasion to wear this dress to.

I slid it off the hanger and pulled it on, carefully zipping up the side and fastening the clip at the top. There was a necklace on the same hanger, so I assumed I was to wear it as well. I put on the necklace and slipped on the shoes Alice had picked out for me. I grabbed my cap and gown, took one final look at myself in the mirror, and walked downstairs.

If this was what it felt like on prom, I wasn't sure if I ever wanted to go to one of them. All of my family was waiting at the base of the stairs and they 'ooo-ed and aww-ed' at me as I made my way down. Talk about feeling like a goldfish.

"You look beautiful, Nessie," my father beamed at me. Everyone else simply nodded in agreement.

"Thanks," I said as I pried my way through the barricade of people at the base of the stairs. "Where's Jake at anyways?"

"I think he's waiting for you outside. You two ride together and we'll meet you there in a little bit," my mom said.

"Okay!" With my cap and gown draped over my arm, I walked outside to see Jake waiting by the passenger side of Old Red. Hadn't my parents promised me a new car if I kept my driving record clean? Oh well. I'd have to argue with them about that later. For now, I was preoccupied with Jacob.

"Wow," he said as he looked me up and down. I threw in a little spin for dramatic effect.

"So what do you think?" I asked him. "I think it makes me look older."

"Yeah. Definitely older, and you look absolutely amazing," he said as he bent down to give me a light kiss on my forehead.

"Thanks! So, I guess we should probably get going if we want to graduate," I surmised.

"After you," he said as he opened the door and motioned for me to get in. He shut the door softly and hurried over to the driver's side and fired up the truck.

The ride to Forks High seemed shorter than usual. I was blaming it on my nerves. We were told to park on the grass so that the lot would be free for the parents to park in. I was about to open my door and get out when Jake reached over to stop my hand.

I gave him a questioning look. "Am I not allowed to open my own door anymore? Chivalry is great and all, Jake, but it is lonnngggg gone."

"You can still open your own door, but I have something for you. I know that Edward, er, your dad, told you I had something for you, and I'd like to give it to you now if that's alright?"

"Of course you can give it to me now," I said excitedly.

I watched him as he pulled a little black velvet bag out of his coat pocket. He stared at it in his hands for a minute before finally giving it to me.

I looked at him cautiously, but his eyes only beckoned for me to continue. I untied the string and expanded the scrunched up bag. I reached blindly inside of it and pulled out something I was not expecting at all; a ring.

"Now, Ness, don't go getting the wrong idea. I'm not proposing to you. You know I love you…" he started, but I interrupted.

"I love you too!" I smiled.

"Shh," he said sweetly as he put a finger over my lips. "Let me finish, sweetie. You know I love you, and I know you love me. And we will get married, someday. But this is a promise ring. I promise you that I will never break your heart, and I promise that I will protect you from anyone or anything that ever tries to harm you. We're going to graduate today, and go to college soon…and I…I just wanted to give you something to show that I love you. So…that's all I've got."

All I could do was sit there and smile. "I love it, Jake, and I love you." I leaned over and planted a kiss square on his lips. I could feel him smiling and that only made me love him more. I wasn't sure where to put the ring. Obviously my family knew I was getting it, but I didn't know which finger to put it on. Definitely not my left-hand ring finger…that one _was_ reserved for the day that Jake proposes to me.

"Um…Jake? Which finger should I put this on?" I didn't want to sound awkward, but I figured he bought a specific size for a certain finger.

"Oh. Here, let me," he offered as he took the small, delicate ring from my palm. He grasped my right hand with his own and slipped the promise ring on to my right ring-finger. I held my hand out in front of me, thoroughly inspecting how it looked. It was white gold with two hearts that interlinked. In the center of each heart was a small, round diamond. It was perfect. He was perfect.

He had been watching me this whole time and he had a huge smile on his face. "I love you Renesmee, with all of my heart."

"Jacob Black, I love _you_ with all of _my_ heart…and then some! And I hate to break this up, but we should probably get going if we actually want to get out of Forks before next year…"

"You have a point," he declared as he held up one pointed finger in the air to accentuate himself.

He quickly opened his door and darted over to my side to open my door as well. "I know chivalry is 'dead', according to you, but I say it still exists. So you're going to have to get used to it every now and again."

"Fine," I sighed. "But only if I can be chivalrous towards you sometimes, too."

He gave me a look. It was one of the looks that said 'you've got to be out of your ever-loving mind if you think that is ever going to happen'. I simply smiled and left it at that.

I could now see that the majority of our graduating class, and their families, had arrived at Forks High. Thankfully, it was a non-rainy day, so the graduation was able to be outdoors. While all of the families and friends were settling into their respective seats, the graduating seniors all met in the gym. There were girls crying, people hugging and pictures…lots and lots of pictures being taken.

Jake pulled a camera out of the depths of his robe and asked a nearby girl to take a picture of us. I looked at him wondering why in God's name _he_, of all people, wanted to take a picture.

"Can you take two, please?" he asked the girl nicely.

"Sure," she said.

Jake snaked his arm around me and I became a part of his side from being held so tightly.

"One, two, three," she counted before snapping the first picture.

I pried myself away from his side and tried to recuperate for the next picture, but only managed to get a second's rest before he pulled me close again. Thankfully, it wasn't quite as tight of a grip this time.

"Okay. One, two, three," she said. Right on the count of three, Jake turned his head and kissed the side of my cheek.

"Aww, Jakeeee," I whined, "If Alice sees the lip print on my cheek she is going to spend another thirty minutes fixing it."

"Oh hush. You don't have any lip prints. And I didn't think I could coerce you into taking a real picture of us kissing, so this was really my only option." He thanked the girl and took his camera back, hastily turning to playback the two pictures. I had to admit, they were both pretty darn good. My face hadn't distorted into confusion on the second one until after the girl took the picture, so I was still smiling.

We then heard a loud voice coming from the entrance to the gym. I wasn't quite sure who it was, but they were directing us to get in order to walk out to our seats. Luckily, with it being such a small school, there wasn't anyone between Jake and I alphabetically. I'm sure he would rub it in for a long time that he graduated before me, but I suppose I could deal with that. As the line began to move outside, I squeezed Jake's hand in my own.

The seniors filed into the rows closest to the stage while everyone else waited patiently. Our class valedictorian, whose name I did not even know, gave a beautiful speech about life in terms of past, present and future. About how we would all go on to do miraculous things with our lives, you know, the normal graduating spiel. I'm sure she meant well, but there were some people from our grade that I just did not think would go places. But then again, who am I to judge a book by its cover? I sure as hell wouldn't expect Jake to be half the man he is just by looking at him…

It finally came to the name calling, diploma handing, tassel turning and hand shaking. Upon receiving "the signal" by our assistant principal, the first row of us students stood up and made our way to the side of the stage that had been set up. The two girls in front of us went happily across, took their diplomas, moved their tassels over, shook hands of the school board and exited the stage with a little clapping from the audience.

"Jacob Black," the announcer said all movie-like, cuing my boyfriend to go graduate. He turned and gave me a quick peck before hopping up the stairs and walking to get his diploma. Since his dad was in a wheelchair, he got prime seating. The rest of my family was close by, and all of them, plus some of the kids from the reservation stood up and began hooting and hollering as Jake strutted across the stage. He was so caught up in it that he almost walked past his diploma! He stopped short, grabbed his diploma, switched his tassel over to the graduate side and made his way off stage as he shook hands.

"Renesmee Cullen," he said strongly. I was careful with the steps, so as not to fall and embarrass myself. I was not prepared for what happened. Not only did my family stand up and clap for me. Not only did they scream my name incessantly. Not only did they jump up and down like fools, but they also brought air horns and cow bells! So much for not being embarrassed…

I grabbed my diploma hastily, turned my tassel over at a barely human speed, shook hands faster than lightening and practically ran off of the stage into Jake's open arms. He had a huge grin plastered on his face.

"You…" I started. "You knew they were going to do that! And you didn't warn me!!!! Jacob! I could have tripped and fallen and died! Well…that's not very likely to happen, but still. You could've warned me," I said as I put a pouty look on my face.

"Hey now, you turn that frown upside down! You only graduate from high school once…well…you only graduate from high school _for the first time_ once."

"I think I've had enough firsts to last me a lifetime and then some…"

He locked his arms under mine, picked me up and spun me around in a circle. "You still have a lot of firsts to go through, but you'll be just fine, sweetie."

We walked back to our seats and waited for the rest of our class to graduate. Thankfully, it didn't take too long (another plus side to having a small senior class).

After the valedictorian received her diploma and the principal made his final speech, we were announced as official graduates of Forks High School. Everyone threw their caps up into the air, though I was watching where mine went so I could go and get it afterwards. Confetti seemed to explode out of nowhere and the sudden outburst of talking and screaming was nearly deafening. I quickly grabbed my cap and went to go find my family.

I was showered in hugs and kisses with pictures being taken faster than I could look and smile in the right direction. I was just hoping that I didn't look like a ridiculous fool in any of them.

"Nessie, we're so proud of you!" my mother beamed, expressing both her and my father's emotions. "I know it feels rushed, but we're hoping that a full college education will fix that."

"I'm actually kind of glad it was rushed. I'm excited to go to college and start my life again. I love being…well…I love being what I am." I didn't want to say anything for fear of being overheard, even though that seemed nearly impossible.

"I'm glad you feel that way, Nessie," my father prided.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Alice tapping her foot impatiently. "Aun-…Alice!!!" I said as I tackled her with a hug.

"Yeah, yeah. Hug little old me last. That's okay though, because we have to go anyway."

"What are you talking about?" I questioned.

"Well, the way I see it, if you want to eat before your graduation party, we kind of have to leave."

"Graduation party? What the…?" I was confused beyond belief.

"Yes. Yet another surprise for the graduates. It's for you and all of your classmates, if they'd like to come. We hired some people to fix the house up while we were here," my dad said.

"Even more of a reason to get home. I'm sure I'm going to have to practically redo everything they've done, except I only have a fraction of the time to do it in. So, shall we?" Alice said as she offered me her arm to clutch on to.

By this time, I didn't even care. "But of course we shall," I said gleefully as I hooked my arm around my Aunt's. I started skipping and Alice soon followed suit. I almost started singing "We're off to see the Wizard" for comic effect, but decided against it.

I glanced back to see the rest of my family following behind us, though they were not skipping. Alice continued skipping with my arm locked in her own, so I trusted she was heading me in the right direction. Remind me to never do that again.

I smacked full force into what I assumed was a car.

"Aliceeeee," I said with a hint of frustration in my voice.

"Wups…I thought you were looking. And therefore thought you saw the car in front of you. Sorryyyy," she said as she offered me a hand to get back up.

The rest of my family now surrounded me. I rubbed my hand over my sore forehead and I could feel Alice picking bits and pieces of gravel and dirt out of my hair. She backed away and I saw another flash from a camera blind me.

"Really? You're taking a picture of me after I ran into a car? That will sure make a nice addition to the family photo album," I said sourly.

"Um, Nessie," Jake started.

"No. Give me that camera so I can delete that picture," I said sternly.

"Nessie," my mother pleaded.

"_Please_ give me that camera so I can delete that awful picture," I corrected.

"Renesmee. Would you get over yourself and turn around?" Rosalie said.

"Oh for the love of…" I started as I turned around to see a shiny car staring back at me, aside from the print my forehead made on the side window. There was a humongous bow on the top with my name written in my father's neat handwriting on one of the ribbon's tail ends. "Oh…" was all I managed to get out.

I was officially a Cullen, because I was now the sole owner of a brand new, light blue Audi R8. Words couldn't fathom my emotions at that moment. I didn't have to drive Old Red anymore, though I would miss that clunker a little bit. "Thank you, thank you, thank you! It's beautiful. I love it! Thank you guys _soooo_ much!"

My parents laughed at me. "You're welcome, sweetheart. You did extremely well with your mother's old truck, and we did promise you a car for graduation. And we are men of our words," my father said as my mother elbowed him in his side. "We are men _and women_ of our words," he corrected.

"Suhweeeeeet," I exclaimed. "So I'll see you guys back at the house, then?" All I really wanted to do now was drive my new car. I could care less about a stupid picture or dinner or a graduation party.

"Yes…don't be _too_ long, please. We still have to get you fed before the party!" my mother said to me. "And please try not to kill Jake. If that happens, you'll be stuck with Old Red for a while longer."

"Got it. No killing my boyfriend. I think that is very doable. Keys…?"

"In the ignition. Be careful and we'll see you at the house," my mom said with a grin on her face.

I practically ran over to the driver's side and sank into my new, sweet ride. I turned the ignition and heard the beautiful sound of a good engine purring to life.

"Alright, alright. It's time for a joy ride!"

"Please don't kill me, Ness," Jake said jokingly.

"Wouldn't dream of it, boo," I said reassuringly. "But I suggest you buckle up, because we're going to have a bit of quick fun before going back to the house."

I put the car in first gear, and purposely burnt out of the parking lot.

**Author's Note:**

**If you're interested, there is a link in my profile to the promise ring…**

**Okay, guys. There it is. A **_**wayyyy**_** overdue chapter. I know I said no excuses…but I swear, being a bio major is pretty much the most time consuming, difficult, pain the ass major there ever was. With that said, it's summer! So hopefully, things will be a bit quicker again. I hope I haven't lost my faithful readers :[**

**Please review, even though I don't deserve it. My amazing beta superdupersk8r61 does deserve it though. She's amazing!**

**One more chapter (I think) before I fast forward to college time!**


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